Production and immunochemical evaluation of allergenic extracts of the house dust mite Blomia tropicalis (Acari: Echymyopodidae)

Abstract

Blomia tropicalis allergens are a risk factor for allergy in tropical countries. The allergenic extracts are valuable reactants for house dust mite hypersensitivity diagnostic and its biological control. The objective was to evaluate the immunochemical properties of B. tropicalis extracts produced from in vitro cultures. This work was not intended to produce extracts for clinical application B. tropicalis specimens were established from mites isolated from domestic dust in Barranquilla, Colombia. The mites free of culture medium were used to obtain the extracts. The yield of extraction was determined by Bradford assay and the electrophoretic profile by SDS-PAGE. The presence of hydrolase enzymes was determined by Api® Zym and the immunogenicity was evaluated by Western blot where serum IgE binding proteins were identified. The maximum production of mites in the cultures was 0.9 g/300 g of medium. The yield of protein extraction was 3.61% (± 0.42). All the extracts showed enzymatic activity for trypsin, alpha-amylase, chymotrypsin associated. The Western blot confirmed the serum IgE binding proteins. We showed a simple and fast method to obtain B. tropicalis extracts with enzymatic and allergenic activity.