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A new interesting article has been published in Parasitol Res. 2019 Aug;118(8):2353-2359. doi: 10.1007/s00436-019-06383-x. Epub 2019 Jul 1. and titled:

Characterization of IgE-binding proteins in the salivary glands of Simulium nigrogilvum (Diptera: Simuliidae).

Authors of this article are:

Hempolchom C, Sookrung N, Srisuka W, Reamtong O, Sakolvaree Y, Chaicumpa W, Dedkhad W, Jariyapan N, Takaoka H, Saeung A.

A summary of the article is shown below:

Simulium dermatitis is an IgE-mediated skin reaction in animals and humans caused by the bites of black flies. Although Simulium nigrogilvum has been incriminated as the main human-biting black fly species in Thailand, information on its salivary allergens is lacking. Salivary gland extract of S. nigrogilvum females was subjected to sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the separated components were applied onto nitrocellulose membranes for immunoblotting, which was performed by probing the protein blots with sera from 17 individuals who were allergic to the bites of S. nigrogilvum. IgE-reactive protein bands were characterized further by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. Nine protein bands (79, 42, 32, 25, 24, 22, 15, 13, and 11 kDa) were recognized in the serum of the subjects. Four of the nine protein bands (32, 24, 15, and 11 kDa) showed IgE reactivity in all (100%) of the tested sera, and they were identified as salivary secreted antigen 5-related protein, salivary serine protease, erythema protein, and hypothetical secreted protein, respectively. Three other proteins, salivary serine protease (25 kDa), salivary D7 secreted protein (22 kDa), and hypothetical protein (13 kDa), reacted with > 50% of the sera. The relevance of the identified protein bands as allergens needs to be confirmed by using pure recombinant proteins, either in the in vivo skin prick test or in vitro detection of the specific IgE in the serum samples of allergic subjects. This will be useful for the rational design of component-resolved diagnosis and allergen immunotherapy for the allergy mediated by the bites of black flies.

Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:

This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: IgE-binding proteins;Simulium dermatitis;Simulium nigrogilvum.