Authors Jan L. Brozek, MD, PhD – Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada Jean Bousquet, MD, PhD – Service des Maladies Respiratoires, Hopital Arnaud de Villeneuve, Montpellier, France, INSERM, CESP U1018, Respiratory and Environmental Epidemiology Team, France, and WHO Collaborating Center for Rhinitis and Asthma Carlos E. Baena-Cagnani, MD – Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina Sergio Bonini, MD – Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine – CNR, Rome, Italy and Department of Medicine, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy G. Walter Canonica, MD – Allergy & Respiratory Diseases, DIMI, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy Thomas B. Casale, MD – Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA Roy Gerth van Wijk, MD, PhD – Section of Allergology, Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Ken Ohta, MD, PhD – Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Department of Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Torsten Zuberbier, MD – Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany Holger J. Schunemann, MD, PhD, MSc – Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

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Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma

Indoor air quality and health

In parallel with changes in lifestyle over the last 50 years (sedentary living in warm houses with extensive furnishing and low ventilation rates), there has been a progressive increase in the prevalence and morbidity of asthma in many parts of the world. The increase has been in perennial rather than seasonal asthma, and a large proportion of the patients are sensitized to one or more of the allergens found predominantly inside houses, that is, indoor allergens. The Third International Workshop on Indoor Allergens and Asthma was designed to discuss recent progress in basic and clinical research in this area, to formulate recommendations for allergen-specific management of asthma, and to consider future research directions. As with the two previous workshops, discussion topics included biology; allergen immunochemistry; molecular biology and immune response; epidemiology of asthma; and the role of allergen avoidance, a, 2 Because of dramatic progress in recent years, the Third International Workshop was expanded to cover not only house dust mite allergens but also allergens from cat, dog, and cockroach, for which immunochemical and epidemiologic data are available. Over the past 5 years there have been significant advances in several areas of research on indoor allergens, including: (1) cloning and expression of recombinant allergens, 3-7 (2) analysis of T-cell responses to indoor allergens, derivation of T-cell clones, and analysis of T-cell epitope specificity and cytokine profiles, s, 9 (3) investigation of the dose-response relationship between exposure to mite, cat, and cockroach allergens and sensitization, 1°-13 and (4) epidemiologic studies on indoor allergens as risk factors for the symptoms of asthma and bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR)? 4-17 Better definition of the allergens has made it possible to analyze their structure and biologic function and to define epitopes recognized by antibodies or T cells. Information obtained from those studies has provided exciting possibilities for developing new vaccines for safe and effective immunotherapy. 9, 18. 19 Studies of T-cell responses to dust mites have confirmed the dominance of T-helper cell (Tin) responses in allergic individuals.

https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(97)70292-6/pdf

S.J. Owen

Papers

Control of house dust mite antigen in bedding.

Airborne house dust mite antigen after vacuum cleaning