Molecular Characterization of Allergens of Kentucky Bluegrass Pollen

Grass pollen is one of the major causes of allergy worldwide and since the 1960s many different grass species have been extensively studied for their allergenic proteins by biochemical and immunological methods. Grass pollen extracts are complex mixtures of allergenic and nonallergenic proteins and may consist of up to 14 different IgE-binding components (Ford and Baldo, 1986). Several allergens have been defined and partly characterized, but only a few have been isolated in pure form from pollen extract (Ansari et al., 1989a, b). Comparison of pollen proteins from different grass species have revealed considerable cross-reactivity (Leiferman and Gleich, 1986; Bernstein et al., 1976). Employing monoclonal antibodies, groups of allergens have been defined with interspecies cross-reactivity (Standring et al., 1987; Singh and Knox, 1985). Because of the difficulties in isolating sufficient amounts of pure allergens from pollen extracts, the availability of structural information of grass allergens was limited until recombinant DNA techniques were introduced (Fang et al., 1988).