Specific immunotherapy (SIT) is currently recognized as the only etiological therapy to ameliorate asthmatic symptom. The current study was aimed at evaluating the immune effect of vaccine MAT3T designed on MHCII pathway, which includes T cell fusion peptide encoding Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus class 1 allergen (Der p1). We initially cloned the nucleotide sequences of TAT, IhC and 3 segments of T cell epitope coding for Der p1, and reassembled these sequences in linear manner to form fusion gene named MAT3T, which was applied to immunize the asthmatic models of mice induced by Der p1 allergen for tentative SIT. ELISA results showed that MAT3T was able to increase the level of IFN-γ in BALF and allergen specific antibody IgG2a in serum, while decrease the level of IL-13 in BALF and allergen specific antibody IgE and IgG1. Pathological confirmation further revealed that the inflammatory reactions and inflammatory cell infiltration were totally reduced in lung tissue of mice after MAT3T treatment. Our results show that the recombinant allergen MAT3T can effectively correct the imbalance of Th1/Th2, and MAT3T may be used as candidate vaccine against asthma on SIT basis.
Keywords: Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus; allergic asthma; chimeric allergens; class 1 allergen.