Exposure to positively- and negativelycharged plasma cluster ions impairs IgE-binding capacity of indoor cat and fungal allergens

Nishikawa Kazuo

Fujimura Takashi

Ota Yasuhiro

Abe Takuya

ElRamlawy Kareem Gamal

Nakano Miyako

Takado Tomoaki

Uenishi Akira

Kawazoe Hidechika

Sekoguchi Yoshinori

Tanaka Akihiko

Ono Kazuhisa

Kawamoto Seiji

World Allergy Organization Journal

Background: Environmental control to reduce the amount of allergens in a living place is thought to be important to avoid sensitization to airborne allergens. However, efficacy of environmental control on inactivation of airborne allergens is not fully investigated. We have previously reported that positively- and negatively-charged plasma cluster ions (PC-ions) reduce the IgE-binding capacity of crude allergens from Japanese cedar pollen as important seasonal airborne allergens. Cat (Felis domesticus) and fungus (Aspergillus fumigatus) are also important sources of common airborne allergens in living spaces throughout the year, and early sensitization with those allergens is considered to be a risk factor for future development of allergic rhinitis, pollinosis and asthma. The aim of this study is to examine whether the PC-ions reduce the IgE-binding capacity of a cat major allergen (Fel d 1) and fungal allergens in an experimental condition.
Methods: Fel d 1, crude fungal extract, or a fungal major allergen Asp f 1, was treated with PC-ions for 6 h in an experimental cylindrical apparatus. Sham-treated allergens were prepared in the same experimental apparatus without generation of PC-ions. The degradation of the PC-ions-treated Fel d 1 was analyzed by SDS-PAGE, and the IgE-binding capacity of the PC-ions-treated allergens was analyzed by ELISA inhibition assay.
Results: Exposure of Fel d 1, crude fungal extract and Asp f 1 to PC-ions significantly decreased protein content of Fel d 1 or Asp f 1, respectively. SDS-PAGE analysis suggested that the decreased Fel d 1 content upon exposure with PC-ions was attributable to protein degradation. ELISA inhibition indicated that the PC-ions treatment significantly impaired IgE-binding capacities of Fel d 1, crude fungal allergens, and Asp f 1 compared to sham treatment.
Discussion: Our data suggest that treatment with PC-ions not only reduce indoor cat and fungal allergens, but also impair their allergenicity.
Conclusion: These results suggest that environmental control with PC-ions is useful for inactivation of indoor cat and fungal allergens.

Airborne allergen

Asp f 1

Asthma

Cat allergen

Environmental control

Fel d 1

Fungal allergen

Immunoglobulin E

Positively- and negatively-charged cluster ions

eng

BMC

© 2016 Nishikawa et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

[ISSN] 1939-4551

[DOI] 10.1186/s40413-016-0118-z

[PMID] 27660668

[DOI] https://doi.org/10.1186/s40413-016-0118-z