In January 2013, “Peach allergy in China: a dominant role for mugwort pollen lipid transfer protein as a primary sensitizer” was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (2013, IF=12), 2013, 131 (1): 224-226 (doi：10.1016/j.jaci.2012.07.015).
In Europe, lipid transfer protein (LTP)-associated allergy to peach is thought to be primarily induced by peach consumption. Primary sensitization to mugwort pollen LTP is generally considered to play a minor role. To investigate whether mugwort pollen plays a dominant role in peach allergy in China, sera of seventy patients with a convincing history of peach and/or mugwort pollen allergy were used for peach and mugwort component-resolved ImmunoCAP IgE testing. Of 24 patients with combined allergy to peach and mugwort, 23 had higher levels of IgE against Art v 3 (mugwort) than against Pru p 3 (peach), with IgE binding to Pru p 3 inhibited as potently by Art v 3 as by Pru p 3, but competition with Pru p 3 hardly affected binding to Art v 3. Of the 15 patients with isolated peach allergy, 14 were Pru p 3-positive, their IgE binding to Pru p 3 was only partially inhibited by Art v 3, while that to Art v 3 was more potently inhibited by Pru p 3 than by Art v 3. The conclusion is: for LTP-associated peach allergy in China, primary sensitization to mugwort pollen is at least as important as that to peach. High exposure and strong sensitization to mugwort pollen LTP is frequently accompanied by LTP-associated peach allergy in China.
This research was funded by the China National Nature Science Foundation (30971970) and International Cooperation Project Ministry of Science and Technology (1114).
