Bla g 9 and Bla g 5 are the most dominant allergens for T cell
responses
Previous studies established that certain allergens are immunodominant
(i.e., account for a larger fraction of the total response)17,24,44 at the population level. However, more
granular analyses also established that individual patterns of
immunodominance are also detected, and the immunodominant antigens can
vary from one individual to the next 10,11,16.
Accordingly, we first established which specific CR allergens would be
dominant for T cell responses in the cohort of allergic CR-sensitized
children. Figure 3a shows the overall response directed against
each allergen, calculated by summing, separately for each individual
allergen, the responses observed in each individual participant. The Bla
g 9 and Bla g 5 allergens were the most dominant, accounting for 38.8%
and 11.1% of the total response, or for 52.1% and 11.3% of IL-4
responses, respectively. Other allergens were also recognized, albeit to
a lower extent (Figure 3a ).
Next, the data were analyzed at a higher level of granularity to
investigate which antigens would be more dominantly recognized for each
of the subjects tested, and each participant was assigned to different
immunodominance categories. In terms of total cytokine response
(Figure 3b ), a total of 19 participants recognized the Bla g 9
allergen as most dominant, while Bla g 5 was most dominant in 7
participants. Bla g 3 and Bla g 7 were dominant in 4 participants, and
Bla g 6 in 3 participants. The other allergens were dominant in one and
two participants each or none, and patterns of co-dominance or no clear
pattern of dominance were detected for 28 participants (Figure
3b ).