DUST MITE, COCKROACH AND CAT ALLERGENS IN ASTHMA

这些研究的目的是加深对 室内变应原在哮喘中的作用及建立有效的方法 通过减少接触变应原来治疗疾病的方案 在家里。在北美，至少有800万人患有哮喘， 而且这种疾病的患病率和发病率似乎都在增加 严肃性。对急诊室患者的病例对照研究表明 大于或等于40%的成人哮喘和高达75%的 儿童哮喘与室内致敏有关 过敏原。这些研究利用快速灵敏的单抗。 尘螨变应原抗体免疫检测方法的建立 在尘螨属中，猫科动物家猫和猫科动物 蟑螂，例如。德国布拉特氏菌。为了更好地理解 儿童时期暴露与儿童哮喘患病率的相关性 12-14岁的儿童将被评估并与过敏原有关 不同气候地区的房屋水平。这些研究将 旨在回答在房子里暴露是否会影响 儿童的敏感度，以及是否暴露在高水平 会增加哮喘的患病率。结果也应该是 允许重新评估拟议的阈值水平，这些阈值是 与对尘螨或猫过敏的风险增加有关 过敏原和哮喘的发展。现在 实验还将侧重于减少接触到 尘螨和猫的过敏原。特别是，两者的影响 物理措施(例如，覆盖床垫、热洗床上用品、 清除地毯)和化学措施(例如杀螨剂或 用于地毯和沙发的变性剂)上的空气扬尘 将对尘螨过敏原进行调查。同样，详细的措施 将研究控制接触猫的过敏原(例如空气 过滤、去掉地毯和给猫洗澡)。最后， 避免过敏原的对照试验将在 哮喘儿童入院治疗，患者出现在 患有哮喘的诊所，以及患有特应性尘螨过敏的患者 皮炎。我们的长期目标是发展有效和 减少过敏原暴露的现实方法和答案 是否应将避免过敏原作为一线治疗方式 对这些病人来说。

The objective of these studies is to improve understanding of the role that indoor allergens play in asthma and to establish effective regimes for treating the disease by reducing exposure to allergens in homes. Asthma affects at least 8 million people in N. America, and the disease appears to be increasing both in prevalence and severity. Case control studies on emergency room patients suggest that greater or equal to 40% of adult asthma and as much as 75% of asthma among children is related to sensitization to indoor allergens. These studies utilize rapid sensitive monoclonal antibody based immunoassays for allergens derived from dust mites of the genus Dermatophagoides, the cat Felis domesticus and cockroaches, eg. Blatella germanica. In order to understand the relevance of exposure in childhood, tbe prevalence of asthma among chfldren age 12-14 will be assessed and related to the allergen levels in houses in different climatic areas. These studies will be designed to answer whether exposure in houses influences the sensitization of children and also whether high levels of exposure can increase the prevalence of asthma. The results should also allow a reevaluation of the proposed threshold levels that are associated with increased risk of sensitization to mite or cat allergens and with the development of asthma. The present experiments will also focus on techniques for reducing exposure to dust mite and cat allergens. In particular, the effects of both physical measures (e.g. covering mattresses, hot washing bedding, removing carpets) and chemical measures (e.g. acaricides or denaturing agents applied to carpets and sofas) on airborne dust mite allergen will be investigated. Similarly, detailed measures for controlling exposure to cat allergens will be studied (e.g. air filtration, removing carpets and washing the cat). Finally, controlled trials of allergen avoidance will be carried out on children admitted to hospital with asthma, patients presenting to clinics with asthma, and also on mite allergic patients with atopic dermatitis. The long term objective is to develop effective and realistic methods for reducing exposure to allergens and to answer whether allergen avoidance should be a first line form of treatment for these patients.