398 Detection of DER P 2 in the House Dust and Correlation with Mite Number in an Environmental Survey

BACKGROUND: Aeroallergen avoidance has been promoted in order to prevent sensitization and the correlation between the level of allergen exposure and sensitization has been reported. The aims of this study were to monitor the environmental mite infestation and design a Der p 2 detection kit to estimate the number of mites in house dust samples. METHODS: House dust samples were collected from 6 carpets and 2 mattresses monthly from April 2010 to March 2011. The total number of mites was counted under microscopes and Der p 2 concentrations were measured using Der p 2 ELISA kit. The detection kit was constituted using Der p 2 specific mouse monoclonal antibody as capture antibody, and rabbit polyclonal antibody as detection antibody. Both Der p crude extract and rDer p 2 were used as internal standard. RESULTS: The number of mites in the dust samples was significantly higher in the mattresses in comparison with that in the carpets and the total number of dust mites was higher in the summer than any other seasons. The concentration of Der p 2 component in Der p crude extract was analyzed and the result showed that each gram of Der p crude extract contained 25.53 mg of Der p 2. When the number of mites and Der p 2 concentration were measured for the correlation analysis the results showed that there was a good correlation between Der p 2 and number of mites with R(2) = 0.9652. CONCLUSIONS: Dust mites were significantly increased in the dust samples collected from mattresses especially in the summer. The good correlation between Der p 2 concentration and mite numbers indicated that the measurement of Der p 2 can be used to replace direct mite count. Using the Der p 2 detection to monitor environmental mite infestation may be beneficial for allergic subjects to prevent disease activation.