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Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack
Ticks and tick-borne diseases are significant public health concerns. Bioactive molecules in tick saliva facilitate prolonged blood-feeding and transmission of tick-borne pathogens to the vertebrate host. Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a newly reported food allergy, is believed to be induced by saliva pr...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8331069/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34354960 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.680264 |
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author | Sharma, Surendra Raj Karim, Shahid |
author_facet | Sharma, Surendra Raj Karim, Shahid |
author_sort | Sharma, Surendra Raj |
collection | PubMed |
description | Ticks and tick-borne diseases are significant public health concerns. Bioactive molecules in tick saliva facilitate prolonged blood-feeding and transmission of tick-borne pathogens to the vertebrate host. Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a newly reported food allergy, is believed to be induced by saliva proteins decorated with a sugar molecule, the oligosaccharide galactose-⍺-1,3-galactose (α-gal). This syndrome is characterized by an IgE antibody-directed hypersensitivity against α-gal. The α-gal antigen was discovered in the salivary glands and saliva of various tick species including, the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum). The underlying immune mechanisms linking tick bites with α-gal-specific IgE production are poorly understood and are crucial to identify and establish novel treatments for this disease. This article reviews the current understanding of AGS and its involvement with tick species. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8331069 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83310692021-08-04 Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack Sharma, Surendra Raj Karim, Shahid Front Cell Infect Microbiol Cellular and Infection Microbiology Ticks and tick-borne diseases are significant public health concerns. Bioactive molecules in tick saliva facilitate prolonged blood-feeding and transmission of tick-borne pathogens to the vertebrate host. Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a newly reported food allergy, is believed to be induced by saliva proteins decorated with a sugar molecule, the oligosaccharide galactose-⍺-1,3-galactose (α-gal). This syndrome is characterized by an IgE antibody-directed hypersensitivity against α-gal. The α-gal antigen was discovered in the salivary glands and saliva of various tick species including, the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum). The underlying immune mechanisms linking tick bites with α-gal-specific IgE production are poorly understood and are crucial to identify and establish novel treatments for this disease. This article reviews the current understanding of AGS and its involvement with tick species. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8331069/ /pubmed/34354960 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.680264 Text en Copyright © 2021 Sharma and Karim https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Cellular and Infection Microbiology Sharma, Surendra Raj Karim, Shahid Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack |
title | Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack |
title_full | Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack |
title_fullStr | Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack |
title_full_unstemmed | Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack |
title_short | Tick Saliva and the Alpha-Gal Syndrome: Finding a Needle in a Haystack |
title_sort | tick saliva and the alpha-gal syndrome: finding a needle in a haystack |
topic | Cellular and Infection Microbiology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8331069/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34354960 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.680264 |
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