Measurement of exposure to mouse urinary proteins in an epidemiological study.

Abstract

Objectives-To develop an assay to measure airborne mouse urinary protein (MUP) and to assess the occupational exposure to MUP in the workforce ofthree establishments as part of an epidemiological study examining the influence of aeroallergen exposure on the development of allergic respiratory disease. Methods-Personal air samples were collected from nine exposure groups during a workshift. A sensitive and reproducible competitive inhibition assay, which used rabbit antisera specific for MUP, was developed and used to measure the occupational exposure to MUP. Results-The personal measurements of MUP showed that people with direct contact with mice (animal technicians) had the highest exposure followed in decreasing order by those working with anaesthetised animals or their tissue (postmortem workers and scientists) and those with indirect contact with mice (supervisors, office workers, and slide production workers). The only difference in concentrations of MUP between the three establishments were found for cage cleaners, which reflected differences in working practises for this exposure category. Air samples collected during the performance of specific tasks showed that high exposures to MUP were associated with handling mice, indirect contact with mice, and washing floors.Conclusions-Exposure to mouse urinary proteins has been measured in the occupational environment. This information can be used to determine the relation between exposure to MUP and the development of allergic and respiratory disease. (Occup Environ Med 1997;54:135-140)

National prevalence and exposure risk for mouse allergen in US households

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Mouse allergen in particular has been frequently studied in occupational settings to investigate exposure and response among laboratory animal handlers. [9][10][11][12][13] More recent research has examined home environments, revealing potentially important relationships between household mouse allergen exposure and sensitization among children. 14,15 A major study targeting the homes of children with asthma living in several inner-city areas found a strikingly high prevalence of mouse allergen and increased mouse allergen sensitization rates.…”

Immunoquantitative Measurement of Soybean Aeroallergen Emissions

“…Furthermore, testing by different laboratories using their own serum pools may be subject to inter-laboratory and possibly inter-batch differences in allergen recognition profiles (28). This makes comparison of absolute measurements of airborne allergens among different studies difficult (29). Due to those limitations other assays have been developed.…”

An Amplified ELISA Inhibition Method for the Measurement of Airborne Soybean Allergens

“…Competitive inhibition assays are considered to be semiquantitative methods [19], and accurate measurement requires assessment of the efficacy of these techniques. One of the limitations is the absence of standards, which are currently unavailable for quantifying soybean aeroallergen.…”

“…As a consequence, the comparison of absolute measurements of airborne allergens among different studies is difficult. For each antigen, therefore, assessment of the efficacy of each of these techniques is essential for the quantification of exposure data [19]. …”