Dust and airborne endotoxin exposure in dwellings in the Strasbourg metropolitan area (France)

A comparison of airborne and dust-borne allergens and toxins collected from home, office and outdoor environments both in New Haven, United States and Nanjing, China

“…Der p 1 allergen concentration was about 120 ng/m 3 . Sohy et al (2005) have reported that mean airborne endotoxin concentration was 0.18 ng/m 3 , lower than our values, for 100 dwellings in Strasbourg, France. For problematic indoor conditions, airborne glucan concentration was reported as high as 41.9 ng/m 3 on average (Rylander 1999), which is higher than our values.…”

“…In the Nanjing experiment, dust-borne endotoxin concentration was measured as 15 ng/mg, and glucan concentration was measured as about 10 ng/mg. Sohy et al (2005) reported that mean dust-borne glucan concentration was about 3.24 ng/mg, lower than our value, for a bedroom floor and 1.7 ng/mg, lower than our value, for a mattress sample (Custovic et al 1999). The dust mite allergens Der p 1 and Der f 1 were detected and their concentrations were 0.1 and 2.8 ng/mg, respectively, for the New Haven experiment as shown in Fig.…”

“…For airborne allergens, at least the amount of inhaled allergens can be calculated based on the allergen concentration in the air and the human breathing rate. Sohy et al (2005) did not find any correlation between dust and airborne endotoxin levels in their study. They suggested that it is necessary to measure endotoxin in both dust and air to obtain a relevant exposure assessment.…”

Gene-environment interactions with CD14 C-260T and their relationship to total serum IgE levels in adults

“…This might not be surprising because pets probably account for only a small portion of the total variation in endotoxin exposure. [28][29][30] Therefore although the possibility still remains that pets mediate their effect through endotoxin, our data suggest that at least in adult women, the CD14 genotype is a stronger predictor of IgE levels and that pet exposure is not on par with endotoxin measured directly in modifying this relationship.…”

The role of indoor allergens in chronic allergic disease

“…Although it has been proposed that the effect of pets can be explained by increased indoor endotoxin, the bulk of published experiments do not support this. 13,37,38 Another apparent feature of the immune response to mammalian allergens is that there are only a small number of significant or major allergens from each source. By contrast, responses to dust mite or cockroach allergens that occur at very low exposure 39 often include IgE antibodies to many different proteins (see www.allergen.org).…”