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. 1997 Apr 1;99(7):1673–1681. doi: 10.1172/JCI119330

Conversion of the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, into two nonanaphylactic T cell epitope-containing fragments: candidates for a novel form of specific immunotherapy.

S Vrtala 1, K Hirtenlehner 1, L Vangelista 1, A Pastore 1, H G Eichler 1, W R Sperr 1, P Valent 1, C Ebner 1, D Kraft 1, R Valenta 1
PMCID: PMC507987  PMID: 9120011

Abstract

A novel approach to reduce the anaphylactic activity of allergens is suggested. The strategy makes use of the presence of conformational immunoglobulin E (IgE) epitopes on one of the most common allergens. The three dimensional structure of the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, was disrupted by expressing two parts of the Bet v 1 cDNA representing amino acids 1-74 and 75-160 in Escherichia coli. In contrast to the complete recombinant Bet v 1, the fragments showed almost no allergenicity and exhibited random coil conformation as analyzed by circular dichroism. Both nonanaphylactic fragments induced proliferation of human Bet v 1-specific T cell clones, indicating that they harbored all dominant T cell epitopes and therefore may be considered as a basis for the development of a safe and specific T cell immunotherapy.

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Selected References

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