1. An Allergen Portrait Gallery: Representative Structures and an Overview of IgE Binding Surfaces
- Author
-
Ovidiu Ivanciuc, Werner Braun, Randall M. Goldblum, Catherine H. Schein, and Terumi Midoro-Horiuti
- Subjects
allergen specific motifs ,Protein family ,allergen PFAM classification ,cross-reactiviy ,Structural diversity ,Clinical science ,Genomics ,Computational biology ,Review ,structural database of allergenic proteins ,Biology ,IgE epitopes ,Bioinformatics ,medicine.disease_cause ,Proteomics ,Biochemistry ,Ige binding ,Epitope ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Allergen ,immune system diseases ,medicine ,otorhinolaryngologic diseases ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Molecular Biology ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,Applied Mathematics ,respiratory system ,Computer Science Applications ,respiratory tract diseases ,Computational Mathematics ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,030215 immunology ,specific immunotherapy - Abstract
Recent progress in the biochemical classification and structural determination of allergens and allergen–antibody complexes has enhanced our understanding of the molecular determinants of allergenicity. Databases of allergens and their epitopes have facilitated the clustering of allergens according to their sequences and, more recently, their structures. Groups of similar sequences are identified for allergenic proteins from diverse sources, and all allergens are classified into a limited number of protein structural families. A gallery of experimental structures selected from the protein classes with the largest number of allergens demonstrate the structural diversity of the allergen universe. Further comparison of these structures and identification of areas that are different from innocuous proteins within the same protein family can be used to identify features specific to known allergens. Experimental and computational results related to the determination of IgE binding surfaces and methods to define allergen-specific motifs are highlighted.
- Published
- 2010