Current Allergy and Asthma Reports

, Volume 12, Issue 5, pp 438–447 | Cite as

Animal Lipocalin Allergens

  • Christiane Hilger
  • Annette Kuehn
  • Francois Hentges
ALLERGENS (RK BUSH, SECTION EDITOR)
First Online:

Abstract

Lipocalins represent the most important group of inhalant animal allergens. For some of them, three-dimensional protein structures have been resolved, but their functions are still elusive. Lipocalins generally display a low sequence identity between family members. The characterization of new lipocalin allergens has revealed however that some of them display a high sequence identity to lipocalins from another species. They constitute a new group of potentially cross-reactive molecules which, in addition to serum albumins, may contribute to allergic cross-reactions between animal dander of different species. However, the clinical relevance of cross-reactivity needs to be assessed. Further studies are needed to understand which of these animal lipocalins are the primary allergens and which are cross-reacting molecules. The use of single, well characterized allergens for diagnosis will allow the identification of the sensitizing animal, which is a prerequisite for specific immunotherapy.

Keywords

Lipocalin Allergy Allergen Mammalian Cat Dog Horse Cattle Guinea pig Rabbit Hamster Mouse Rat Arthropod Cross-reactivity 
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Notes

Acknowledgment

Projects of C.H. and A.K. are supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research of Luxembourg. The authors thank Arnaud Müller for his assistance on the lipocalin alignment figure.

Disclosure

No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Christiane Hilger
    • 1
  • Annette Kuehn
    • 1
  • Francois Hentges
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.Laboratory of Immunogenetics and AllergologyCRP-SantéLuxembourgLuxembourg
  2. 2.National Unit of Immunology-AllergologyCentre Hospitalier de LuxembourgLuxembourgLuxembourg

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