Autor(es):
Buters, Jeroen M. 
; Albertini, Roberto ; Annesi-Maesano, Isabella ; Antunes, Celia M. ; Berger, Uwe ; Brandao, Rui M. ; Cecchi, Lorenzo ; Celenk, Sevcan ; Galán, Carmen ; Grewling, Lukazs ; Kennedy, Roy ; Prank, Marje ; Rantio-Lehtimaki, Auli ; Reese, Gerald ; Sauliene, Ingrida ; Smith, Matt ; Sofiev, Mikhail ; Thibaudon, Michel ; Weber, B
Data: 2013
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/10128
Origem: Repositório Científico da Universidade de Évora
Assunto(s): Allergen; Allergy; Phl p 5; Grass
Descrição
Background: Grass pollen is considered to
be the most important outdoor aeroallergen
in Europe. The grass ‘pollen count’ is
usually used as a proxy for exposure. However,
HIALINE has shown that the birch
and olive pollen count is not always congruent
with allergen concentrations. We
therefore simultaneously measured daily
exposure to grass pollen and the concentration
of group 5 major allergens across
eight countries in Europe during 2009–
2011.
Method: Airborne allergens were collected
using a high-volume cascade impactor for
particulate matter (PM) >10 lm and
10 lm > PM > 2.5 lm. Grass group 5
allergens (Phl p 5) were determined by
ELISA. Airborne pollen was collected
using Hirst-type volumetric pollen traps.
The System for Integrated modeLing of
Atmospheric coMposition (SILAM) was
used to compute the origin of the collected
pollen.
Results: Allergen was recovered for >85%
from the PM > 10 lm fraction of ambient
air, showing that airborne allergen stems
solely from pollen. On average pollen
released 2.64 pg Phl p 5/pollen, comparable
to birch and olive pollen. However,
there was considerable variation between
countries and between years. For instance
in Evora, Portugal and Parma, Italy grass
pollen released on average 40% less allergen
per pollen than the European mean.
When comparing individual years, the differences
were up to 700% (Italy 2011 vs
UK, 2009). This analysis concerns the
comparison of yearly averages, which in
themselves are already the average of
approximately 60 days. Between days,
between countries, the differences were
even more extreme.
Conclusion: Grass pollen released different
amounts of group 5-allergens depending on
the country, year and day. We believe that
allergen release per pollen is determined by
different grass species in different countries
with different environmental conditions
determines Phl p 5 release per pollen. It is
unknown how well the surrogate marker
pollen count represents allergy relevant
exposure. Our data shows that in addition
to variations in pollen exposures, there are
also substantial allergen release variations
on top.
