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Cockroach, tick, storage mite and other arthropod allergies: Where do we stand with molecular allergy diagnostics?

Part 15 of the Series Molecular Allergology

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An Erratum to this article was published on 23 December 2014

Abstract

Arthropods form a broad phylum within the animal kingdom, comprising widely varying members such as insects, arachnids, crabs and centipedes. In addition to common allergies to house dust mites or hymenoptera venom, there are also rarer allergies that can be attributed to three major sources of allergens: cockroaches, ticks and storage mites. Other less known allergen sources include spiders, mosquitos, horseflies, red chironomid larvae, silverfish and ladybugs, as well as a variety of storage pests. At present, only extract-based test systems are available for the majority of allergens in IgE-based diagnostics. Molecular characterisation of numerous individual allergens has already been carried out. However, these individual allergens are only available for a small number of allergen sources (e. g. cockroaches and storage mites) in routine diagnostics. Particularly in the case of allergen sources with known high cross-reactivity, the use of marker allergens is believed to improve diagnostics. The currently known individual allergens of the above-mentioned allergy triggers from the arthropod realm are summarized and their potential use in allergy diagnostics discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Allergology Centre for Public Health Research, 84 Val Fleuri, 1526, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Christiane Hilger PhD & Annette Kuehn

  2. Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Statutory Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany

    Monika Raulf

  3. Research Group, Department of Dermatology, Medical Center — University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Thilo Jakob

Authors
  1. Christiane Hilger PhD
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  2. Annette Kuehn
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  3. Monika Raulf
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  4. Thilo Jakob
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christiane Hilger PhD.

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The corresponding author states that there are no conflicts of interest.

Cite this as

Hilger C, Kuehn A, Raulf M, Jakob T. Cockroach, tick, storage mite and other arthropod allergies: Where do we stand with molecular allergy diagnostics? Part 15 of the Series Molecular Allergology. Allergo J Int 2014;23:172–8 DOI: 10.1007/s40629-014-0024-2

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s15007-014-0719-1.

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Hilger, C., Kuehn, A., Raulf, M. et al. Cockroach, tick, storage mite and other arthropod allergies: Where do we stand with molecular allergy diagnostics?. Allergo J Int 23, 172–178 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40629-014-0024-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40629-014-0024-2

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