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Cedar pollinosis in Japan affects nearly 25 % of Japanese citizens. To develop a treatment for cedar pollinosis, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the time of its occurrence and the amount of airborne cedar pollen. In the spring of 2009, we conducted daily Internet-based epidemiologic surveys, which included 1453 individuals. We examined the relationship between initial date of onset of pollinosis symptoms and daily amount of airborne cedar pollen to which subjects were exposed. Approximately 35.2 % of the subjects experienced the onset of pollinosis during a one-week interval in which the middle day coincided with the peak pollen count. The odds ratio for this one-week time interval was 4.03 (95 % confidence interval: 3.34-4.86). The predicted date of the cedar pollen peak can be used to determine the appropriate date for initiation of self-medication with anti-allergy drugs and thus avoid development of sustained and severe pollinosis.

Sensing pollen allergens is required to prevent allergic disorders such as pollinosis. Aptamers, which bind to specific molecules, offer great potential as useful tools for detecting pollen allergens as measures against allergic disorders. Here, we report the identification of DNA aptamers binding to Cry j 2, one of the major allergens in Japanese cedar pollen, and the histochemical sensing of Cry j 2 in ruptured Japanese cedar pollen. DNA aptamers were selected by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) using nitrocellulose membranes. Through four rounds of SELEX, we identified aptamers binding to Cry j 2. The aptamers generated staining in ruptured Japanese cedar pollen on glass slides without extraction, similar to anti-Cry j 2 antibodies. The staining was compatible with starch localization, in which Cry j 2 is present. An aptamer, CJ2-06, which had high and specific binding ability to Cry j 2 ( K d =24 nM), detected an amount of Cry j 2 equivalent to that in several tens of micrograms of pollen. Cry j 2 contained in house dust was detected in a spike test. The aptamers identified in this study can be powerful tools for allergen recognition in the practical biosensing of Cry j 2, leading to preventive measures against allergic disorders caused by Japanese cedar pollen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgenic rice accumulating the modified major Japanese cedar pollen allergens, Cryptomeria japonica 1 ( Cry j 1) and Cryptomeria japonica 2 ( Cry j 2), which were deconstructed by fragmentation and shuffling, respectively, in the edible part of the seed was generated by transformation of a good-tasting rice variety, ' Koshihikari'. These modified cedar pollen antigens were deposited in ER-derived protein bodies ( PB- I), which are suitable for delivery to the mucosal immune system in gut-associated lymphoid tissue when orally administered because antigens bioencapsulated in PB- I are resistant against hydrolysis by intestinal enzymes and harsh environments. Mice fed transgenic seeds daily for three weeks and then challenged with crude cedar pollen allergen showed marked suppression of allergen-specific CD4+ T-cell proliferation, Ig E and Ig G levels compared with mice fed nontransgenic rice seeds. As clinical symptoms of pollinosis, sneezing frequency and infiltration of inflammatory cells such as eosinophils and neutrophils were also significantly reduced in the nasal tissue. These results imply that oral administration of transgenic rice seeds containing the structurally disrupted Cry j 1 and Cry j 2 antigens, serving as universal antigens, is a promising approach for specific immunoprophylaxis against Japanese cedar pollinosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: Although clinical studies on pollinosis have been performed employing placebo-controlled double-blind comparative and field techniques, accurate evaluation is difficult because the scattering pollen count and climatic conditions vary between years and regions, leading to a bias in the results. Thus, we prepared a pollen challenge test unit (allergen challenge chamber: ACC) which facilitates quantitative pollen challenge at any time, and, so, the acquisition of objective data. Methods: The control of constant conditions and maintenance of specified pollen concentrations in ACC were investigated. In addition, the pollen distribution in ACC was measured while maintaining the level at 10,000counts/m3. The pollen levels were measured employing the aspiration and Durham methods, and the measured values were compared. Furthermore, whether symptoms are adequately induced in the chamber during the non-cedar pollen-scattering season was investigated in 14 volunteers with cedar pollinosis. Results: When the pollen level in ACC was set at 6000counts/m3 or higher, the rate of variation was ±15%, within the adjustable range, and that of the pollen distribution in the chamber was within ±20%. When the volunteers with cedar pollinosis were exposed to cedar pollen in ACC, pollinosis symptoms were induced, and challenge for 2 consecutive days significantly induced symptoms. Conclusions: The temporal and spatial variations of the pollen level in ACC were small, facilitating stable pollen challenge, and pollinosis symptoms were induced in the volunteers with cedar pollinosis. The challenge chamber may be useful to judge the effects of therapy against pollinosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pollinosis induced by the cedar pollen antigen is the most common seasonal allergic reaction in Japan. We aimed to examine the relationship between smoking and risk of cedar pollinosis in a population-based cohort of the Japanese. Methods: Study subjects were 12,221 men and women from the Takayama Study cohort who were 35–69 years old at enrollment in 1992. A follow-up survey in 2002 was used to obtain information about four symptoms related to cedar pollinosis. Results: A total of 1,000 subjects had cedar pollinosis during the 10-year follow-up. As compared with those who had never smoked, current smokers at the baseline were at a significantly decreased risk of cedar pollinosis after controlling for covariates in men (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.50–0.83) as well as in women (HR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.47–0.88). There was a significant dose-response relationship between the risk of cedar pollinosis and the number of cigarettes smoked each day as well as with the number of years an individual had smoked. A significant risk reduction was observed among men and women who had continued to smoke cigarettes during the follow-up period in comparison with those who had never smoked. There was no risk increase for former smokers at the baseline as well as for those who quit smoking during the follow-up. Conclusions: Some components of tobacco may protect against cedar pollinosis. Our finding could provide clues about therapeutic strategies for protection against cedar pollinosis. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pollen is an important trigger of allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and/or asthma, and an exacerbating factor in atopic dermatitis. Although it is proposed that protease activity from allergen sources, such as mites, enhances allergenicity, little information is available on that from relevant allergenic pollens such as Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress pollens, which are the major cause of pollinosis in Japan. Methods: We analyzed the protease activities derived from allergenic pollen of Japanese cedar, Japanese cypress, and Rocky mountain juniper, which belong to the Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae family, and white birch and short ragweed, using synthetic substrates and class-specific inhibitors. Results: We found that the pollen of the three members of the Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae family contained serine protease activity, that the pollen of white birch and short ragweed contained not only serine protease activity but also cysteine protease activity, that all five types of pollen tested contained at least one other type of serine protease, whose sensitivity to a serine protease-specific inhibitor was relatively low, and that the content and releasability of the pollen-derived proteases differed according to the plant families. Conclusions: Clinically relevant allergenic pollens tested in the present study can release serine and/or cysteine endopeptidases. Information on the spectrum of the endopeptidase activities from these allergenic pollen grains will be useful for investigating their contribution to the pathogenesis of allergies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice seed-based edible vaccines expressing T-cell epitope peptides derived from Japanese cedar major pollen allergens have been used to successfully suppress allergen-specific Th2-mediated immunoglobulin E (IgE) responses in mouse experiments. In order to further expand the application of seed-based allergen-specific immunotherapy for controlling Japanese cedar pollinosis, we generated transgenic rice plants that specifically express recombinant Cry j 1 allergens in seeds. Cry j 1 allergens give low specific IgE-binding activity but contain all of the T-cell epitopes. The allergens were expressed directly or as a protein fusion with the major rice storage protein glutelin. Fusion proteins expressed under the control of the strong rice endosperm-specific GluB-1 promoter accumulated in rice endosperm tissue up to 15% of total seed protein. The fusion proteins aggregated with cysteine-rich prolamin and were deposited in endoplasmic reticulum-derived protein body I. The production of transgenic rice expressing structurally disrupted Cry j 1 peptides with low IgE binding activity but spanning the entire Cry j1 region can be used as a universal, safe and effective tolerogen for rice seed-based oral immunotherapy for cedar pollen allergy in humans and other mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have recently developed the Personal Aeroallergen Sampler (PAAS), a passive sampler for aeroallergens. In the present study, the applicability of the PAAS for personal exposure assessments of cedar and cypress pollens was investigated by comparing with existing reference samplers. To investigate the usability of the PAAS as a personal sampler for the airborne pollens, it was compared with the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) sampler, a traditionally used active personal sampler. Overall, the result showed a good correlation between the two methods, that is, R2=0.8082, suggesting the usability of the PAAS for the personal pollen samplings. The ratio of the pollen numbers collected by the PAAS to the IOM sampler was approximately 30%, which was consistent with our previous study investigating ambient dust particles. Meanwhile, the comparability of the PAAS to the Durham sampler, the most widely used stationary pollen trap, was also assured. Furthermore, we exemplified the seasonal peak of the personal pollen exposures was not necessarily reflected by the outdoor concentrations, indicating insufficiency of the stationary outdoor monitoring to represent the personal pollen exposures. The PAAS, a simple passive method, could be used in future field studies to elucidate the detailed mechanisms of allergic airway diseases such as cedar pollinosis.Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology (2007) 17, 637–643; doi:10.1038/sj.jes.7500549; published online 14 February 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the glycoform of the pollen allergen to find whether the Lewis a epitopes occur in the N-gylcan moiety of the Japanese cedar pollen glycollergen, Cry j 1. The N-gylcans were liberated from the cedar pollen glycoallergen by hydrazinolysis. The resulting sugar chains were N-acetylated and then coupled with 2-aminopyridine.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 13 donors were transformed with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to establish immortalized human B-cells secreting antibodies to Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollen allergens. EBV-transformed B-lymphocytes were then fused with mouse myeloma SP2/O3, and three clones of mouse-human hybridomas secreting human IgM class monoclonal antibodies to a cedar pollen allergen Cry j1 were established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollen from cedar and cypress trees is a major cause of seasonal hypersensitivity in humans in several regions of the Northern Hemisphere. We report the first crystal structure of a cedar allergen, Jun a 1, from the pollen of the mountain cedar Juniperus ashei (Cupressaceae). The core of the structure consists primarily of a parallel β-helix, which is nearly identical to that found in the pectin/pectate lyases from several plant pathogenic microorganisms. Four IgE epitopes mapped to the surface of the protein are accessible to the solvent. The conserved vWiDH sequence is covered by the first 30 residues of the N terminus. The potential reactive arginine, analogous to the pectin/pectate lyase reaction site, is accessible to the solvent, but the substrate binding groove is blocked by a histidine-aspartate salt bridge, a glutamine, and an α-helix, all of which are unique to Jun a 1. These observations suggest that steric hindrance in Jun a 1 precludes enzyme activity. The overall results suggest that it is the structure of Jun a 1 that makes it a potent allergen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We identified five Gryptorneria japonica trees producing Cry j 1 isoforms that cannot be detected in a sandwich ELISA using two monoclonal antibodies, J1B01 and J1B01, suggesting that the binding affinity of these isoforms for both monoclonal antibodies is low. Objectives: The binding properties of the Cryj 1 isoforms produced by five trees to J1B01 and J1B01 were examined. The complementary DNA (cDNA) sequences of the Cry j 1 isoforms were also determined. Methods: To clarify the binding properties of these Cryj 1 isoforms to J1B01 and J1B01, Cryj 1 was quantified in pollen samples collected from each of the five trees, by sandwich ELISAs using polyclonal antibodies and either J1BOT or J1B01. The cDNA sequences of isoforms with different binding properties were determined. To test the assumption that amino acid substitutions affect the binding affinities of Cry j 1 isoforms for monoclonal antibodies, cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS) markers representing the putative polymorphisms were used to analyse additional trees. Results: Four of the five trees produced Cry j 1 isoforms with extremely low binding affinity for J1B01, whereas the other tree produced two different isoforms with low binding affinity for either J 1 BO 1 or J 1 B07. Cry j 1-encoding cDNA sequences for one of the four trees and for the exceptional fifth tree indicate that amino acid substitutions at positions 55 and 352 in mature Cry j 1 affect its binding to J1B01 and J1B01, respectively. This was supported by the results of CAPS analysis. Conclusion: The existence of Cry j 1 isoforms with low binding affinity for either J1B01 or J1B01 was established. Furthermore, a single amino acid substitution is involved in this difference in binding affinity for each monoclonal antibody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laughter after viewing a humorous video "Modem Times" decreased Japanese cedar pollen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) and IgG4 levels, while it enhanced Japanese cedar pollen-specific IgA levels in tears of patients with atopic kerato- conjunctivitis, while viewing a nonhumorous weather information video did not do so. Laughter after viewing "Modern Times" also decreased nerve growth factor levels without affecting neurotrophin-3 levels in tears of those patients, while viewing a weather information video did not. These results indicate that laughter decreased allergen-specific IgE and IgG4 production and increased allergen-specific IgA production with concomitant decrease in nerve growth factor. These results indicate that laughter may have some implications for study and treatment of allergic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between various specific class E immunoglobulins (IgE) in serum and allergic conjunctivitis in spring.Methods: Forty patients with allergic conjunctivitis and fifty healthy volunteers were selected for this trial. Total IgE and specific IgE to twelve inhalant allergens were measured using the CAP system.Results: Specific IgE levels caused by cedar and cypress pollen, house dust, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, acarus, and moth allergens were higher in the allergy group than in the control group. No correlation was proven between the specific IgE levels and the total IgE level. The highest positivity rate for a specific allergen in patients with allergic conjunctivitis was 52.5% for cedar pollen, followed by cypress pollen at 37.5%.Conclusions: These results suggest that cypress pollen was the largest cause of allergic conjunctivitis and that the total IgE level had no correlation with each specific IgE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resolution of the 3D structures and IgE epitopes of allergens may identify common or conserved features of allergens. Jun a 1, the predominant allergen in mountain cedar pollen, was chosen as a model for identifying common structural and functional features among a group of plant allergens. In this study, synthetic, overlapping peptides of Jun a 1 and sera from patients allergic to mountain cedar pollen were used to identify linear epitopes. A 3D model of Jun a 1 was produced using the Bacillus subtiles pectate lyase (PL) as a template and validated with biophysical measurements. This allowed mappings of four IgE binding sites on Jun a 1. Two of the epitopes mapped to turns or loops on the surface of the model structure. The other two epitopes mapped to the β-sheet region, homologous to the catalytic site of PL. This region of Jun a 1 is highly conserved in the group 1 allergens from other cedar trees as well as microbial PLs. The finding that two out of three major IgE epitopes map to highly conserved catalytic regions of group 1 cedar allergens may help to explain the high degree of cross-reactivity between cedar pollen allergens and might represent a pattern of reactivity common to other allergens with catalytic activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

BackgroundThe natural occurrence of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica, CJ) pollinosis has been reported in Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata). However, the reactivity to Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa, CO) pollen allergens in these monkeys has not yet been reported. ObjectivesThe present study was designed to investigate the reactivity to CO pollen allergens in monkeys sensitized to CJ pollen allergens. MethodsSerum samples from 40 monkeys naturally sensitized to CJ pollen allergens were collected from four troops. We measured the specific IgE to CO pollen allergens and examined the reactivity to the allergens by intradermal test. Cross-reactivity between CJ and CO pollen allergens was examined by ELISA inhibition method. Furthermore, we examined the sensitivity to the allergens by histamine release assay from leucocytes. ResultsAll 40 monkeys had specific IgE to crude and purified major allergens (Cha o 1) of CO pollen. The monkeys showed a positive reaction to CO pollen allergens in the intradermal test. Allergenic cross-reactivity between Cha o 1 and Cry j 1 (a major allergen in CJ pollen) was also observed. Specific histamine release to both the major allergens was noted in two monkeys with CJ pollinosis. ConclusionJapanese monkeys sensitized to Japanese cedar pollen allergens also demonstrate reactivity to Japanese cypress pollen allergens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis has been reported to occur naturally in Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata) as well as humans. Using monoclonal antibodies (mAb) specific to Cry j 1, a major allergen in Japanese cedar pollen, we identified five independent epitopes (EPA to EP-5) on the molecule. The epitopes recognized by IgE antibodies in the sera of humans and monkeys with the pollinosis were analysed by an IgE enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition method with these mAb. In human patients, the mAb to EPA strongly blocked the binding of IgE antibodies in all patients' sera to Cry j 1. The reaction patterns of IgE antibodies in monkeys, however, varied among the troops of monkeys. In some troops, the mAb to EPA showed a blocking pattern similar to that for human patients. In other troops, mAb to EP-4 and EP-5 blocked binding of IgE. These results indicate that some, but not all, monkeys have antibody responses to the major allergen similar to those of humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]