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Hypoallergenic Variants of the Major Latex Allergen Hev b 6.01 Retaining Human T Lymphocyte Reactivity¹

Alexander C. Drew^2,*,,, Nirupama P. Eusebius^*,,, Linda Kenins^*,,, Harini D. de Silva^*,,, Cenk Suphioglu^*,,, Jennifer M. Rolland^*, and Robyn E. O’Hehir^*,,

^* Cooperative Research Centre for Asthma, Sydney, Australia; Department of Allergy, Immunology, and Respiratory Medicine, Alfred Hospital, and Department of Immunology, Monash University Medical School, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Hev b 6.01 is a major allergen of natural rubber latex with sensitization of 70–86% of latex glove-allergic subjects. Recently, we mapped the immunodominant T cell sites of Hev b 6.01 to the highly IgE-reactive hevein (Hev b 6.02) domain. Hev b 6.01 contains 14 cysteine residues with multiple disulphide bridges stabilizing tertiary conformation. With the goal of a standardized specific immunotherapy we developed hypoallergenic Hev b 6.01 mutants by site-directed mutagenesis of selected cysteine residues (3, 12, 17, and 41) within the Hev b 6.02 domain. Peptides corresponding to the Hev b 6.02 domain of two of the mutants were also synthesized. These mutants and peptide variants showed markedly decreased or ablated latex-allergic patient serum IgE binding by immunoblotting and ELISA. Basophil activation testing confirmed markedly decreased activation with successive cysteine substitutions of the mutants and complete abrogation with the Hev b 6.02 (Cys 3, 12, 17, 41 Ala) peptide. Retention of T cell reactivity is crucial for effective specific immunotherapy and all mutants and peptide variants maintained their latex-specific T cell reactivity. The ablated allergenicity but retained T cell reactivity of the Hev b 6.02 (Cys 3, 12, 17, 41 Ala) peptide suggests this peptide is a suitable candidate for inclusion in a latex immunotherapy preparation.

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