SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 10 Aug. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Allergists from the Canary Islands University Hospital Complex (HUC), attached to the Ministry of Health, have carried out the first descriptive study on the immunological recognition of molecular allergens of the so-called storage mites in our territory.
Deposit mites (also known as storage mites) have preferably been identified in places where food, cereals or hay are deposited, although in the Canary Islands and due to climatological characteristics of temperature and humidity they can cohabit in our homes with the usual dust mites domestic.
Although these families of storage mites can induce allergic respiratory symptoms in sensitized individuals, both in rural and urban settings, their immunological involvement in patients with asthma is still not sufficiently understood.
The objective of this work was to design a precision molecular diagnostic model to identify the allergenic profile against storage mites in individuals with different asthma phenotypes.
The analysis revealed the presence of more than forty different sensitization profiles to both types of mites in 133 patients with persistent moderate or severe asthma, associating the simultaneous recognition of eight genuine molecular proteins (allergens) as the most frequent pattern in both groups.
It is evident that sensitization to storage mites demands specialized attention in certain regions such as the Canary Islands, since current diagnostic and therapeutic tools based exclusively on house dust mite allergens (Dermatophagoides spp.) can lead to an insufficient diagnosis or a treatment of limited precision.
The study also concludes that the approach proposed by the Precision Allergy Molecular Diagnosis (PAMD@) panel allows to provide a personalized diagnosis, particularly in populations exposed to different types of mites with high molecular complexity in their asthma phenotype.
The work confirms that molecular diagnosis is a sensitive and highly specific tool to determine exposure to storage mite allergens in certain territories such as our autonomous community.
For Dr. Ruperto González, principal investigator of the team responsible for the work, “the representation of individual patterns of sensitization must be carefully evaluated for an accurate diagnosis that optimizes the individualized treatment of the allergic patient”
The work has been funded by the Fundación Canaria Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Canarias (FIISC) and published in the special issue entitled ‘Molecular medicine in asthma and allergic diseases’ of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, under the Open Access modality in https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/8/4297
