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International Immunology, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 401-409, April 2002
© 2002 Japanese Society for Immunology

Lipocalin allergen Bos d 2 is a weak immunogen

Soili Saarelainen1, Thomas Zeiler1, Jaakko Rautiainen1, Ale Närvänen2, Marja Rytkönen-Nissinen1, Rauno Mäntyjärvi1, Pekka Vilja3 and Tuomas Virtanen1

Departments of 1 Clinical Microbiology and 2 Chemistry, University of Kuopio, 70211 Kuopio, Finland 3 Medical School, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland

Correspondence to: T. Virtanen; E-mail: Tuomas.Virtanen{at}uku.fi
Transmitting editor: S. Romagni

The immunological characteristics of an important group of animal-derived allergens, lipocalins, are poorly known. To explore the immunology of the lipocalin allergen Bos d 2, several mouse strains with different H-2 haplotypes were immunized with the allergen. Only the BALB/c mouse mounted a distinct humoral response against Bos d 2. The proliferative spleen cell responses of all mouse strains remained very weak. Further experiments with BALB/c mice confirmed that Bos d 2 is a weak inducer of both humoral and cellular responses, and that the responses were weaker than with the control antigens hen egg lysozyme (HEL) and tetanus toxoid. IgG subclass analyses showed that Bos d 2 was prone to favor the Th2 response. Although s.c. immunization using complete Freund’s adjuvant favored the Th1-deviated immune response by lymph node cells, Bos d 2 was able to induce the production of IL-4 while the control antigen HEL did not. Epitope mapping revealed that BALB/c mice recognized one immunodominant epitope in Bos d 2, almost identical to that recognized by humans. The epitope was shown to be immunogenic in subsequent experiments. However, further studies are needed to clarify the significance of priming and stimulation doses of the immunodominant and other epitopes in Bos d 2 for the outcome of immune response against the allergen. The murine immune response against Bos d 2 closely resembled that observed in humans. The weak immunogenicity of Bos d 2 may be associated with its allergenicity.

Keywords: allergenicity, animal allergen, cytokine production, epitope mapping, immune response, immunogenicity


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