IRGal (Targeting Key Factors Involved in Immune Reactions mediated by Tick Bites to the Carbohydrate alpha-Gal

01.08.2018 bis 31.08.2020

Ticks are considered worldwide as the most important vectors of animal diseases and the second most important after mosquitoes in human diseases. Most recently, tick bites have emerged as trigger of anaphylactic reactions in humans.We now want to investigate the tick as sensitizing source and the mechanisms underlying the sensitization process.The present proposal aims at i) analyzing the allergenicity of alpha-gal carrying molecules by identifying natural -gal carriers in ticks and by generating a model protein presenting a varying number of alpha-gal epitopes at different sites of the molecule, ii) phenotyping cells implicated in immune responses to alpha-gal epitopes in recently exposed individuals with and without sIgE to alpha-gal, iii) analysing the sensitizing mechanism in a alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferase (GalT) deficient mouse by inducing immune reactions to alpha-gal.