Pollen allergies
Pollen allergies
Pollen allergies impact more than 20% of the human population and they are considered inhalative allergies. Since pollen grains are released in the air and stay on surfaces for a quite long period (a couple of weeks to a couple of months, depending on the plant species and their breeding), it is quite difficult to avoid them.
Besides genetic predisposition for this very unpleasant type of allergy, there is also a very high percentage of people develop an allergy in their grownup years, especially when under certain stress level. At this time, when we were forced to stay inside, it was expected that pollen allergies will have a lower impact but it proved to be the opposite. Staying inside actually lowered our immunity response and going outside for a short time every once in a while made a severe attack on our unprepared organism. That is why more people had emergencies this year and ended up seeking for urgent medical help.
In the meantime, interesting questions were raised amid pollen allergies. Investigation shows that only several types of plants are among major allergens. One of them is ambrosia. Pollen of the first spring plants joined with lower air temperatures will severely attack the respiratory system of unprepared organisms. It has been proved that this set will be even more dangerous than hay allergies later, in summer months. To follow up on differences and find solutions, pollen allergies were classified by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Classification show 29 out of 7868 protein families, according to the database similarity research and multiple sequence alignment (1).
The major pollen allergen families are among expansins, profilins, and calcium-binding proteins.
The classification of pollen allergens into protein families as well as predicting cross-reactivity is very important for further understanding and design of diagnostic devices (1).
Profilins are found in birch pollen grains. They stand for being a ubiquitous family of proteins that control actin polymerization in eucaryotic cells (2). Profilins are previously isolated from three common plant species pollens (Betula verrucosa, birch), pollens of grasses (Phleum pratense, timothy grass), and weeds (Artemisia vulgaris, mugwort) (2). When tested, people will show immunoglobulin E (IgE) reactivity to recombinant birch profilin. The birch profilin is highly purified for testing and overall diagnostic. It is known that such profilin can elicit dose-dependent histamine release via high-affinity Fc epsion receptor of blood basophils in allergic patients (2).
To prevent pollen allergy development into the severe respiratory problem like asthma or sinusitis, bronchitis etc, prevention includes wearing a face mask adequate to this necessity, avoid outdoor activities in windy weather and increase calcium intake on a daily level. Some air purifiers and humidifiers show good results for indoor spaces. Recent studies have promising results in immunotherapy for decreasing allergy impact but the permanent solution seems far and enjoying springtime is limited. For people sensitive to pollen, feels like they have steps directly form winter into the summer:)
Christian Radauer, Heimo Breiteneder; “Pollen allergens are restricted to few protein families and show distinct patterns of species distribution”, 2006.; Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, PubMed)
J.Exp ed. 1992 Feb 1; 175(2); 377-385.
