New insights into ragweed pollen allergens.

Pollen allergensfrom short ragweed( Ambrosia artemisiifolia) cause severe respiratory allergiesin North America and Europe. To date, ten short ragweed pollen allergensbelonging to eight protein families, including the recently discovered novel major allergenAmb a 11, have been recorded in the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) allergendatabase. With evidence that other components may further contribute to short ragweed pollen allergenicity, a better understanding of the allergenrepertoire is a requisite for the design of proper diagnostic tools and efficient immunotherapies. This review provides an update on both known as well as novel candidate allergensfrom short ragweed pollen, identified through a comprehensive characterization of the ragweed pollentranscriptome and proteome.