Present Situation of Cedar Pollinosis in Japan and its Immune Responses

Abstract

Recent observations have suggested significant worldwide increase in the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and cedar pollinosis. In Japan, Japanese cedar (Cryptometria japonica) and Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) pollens are considered to be the major unique allergens and their extent of dispersal is quite large, travelling more than 100km and thus causing serious pollinosis. Cedar pollinosis is a typical type 1 allergic disease by an adaptive immune response that occurs through the induction of allergen-specific effector T cells from naïve T cells. We examined the number of Japanese cedar pollen specific memory Th cells in the peripheral blood of the patients and found that the cedar pollen specific IL-4-producing Th2 memory cells increased during the pollen season and decreased during the off-season. However, more than 60% of the cedar-specific memory Th2 cells survived up to 8 months after the pollen season. Natural killer T(NKT) cells represent a unique lymphocyte subpopulation and their activity is not restricted to MHC antigens. NKT cells play an important role in innate immunity, however, the participation in development of allergic rhinitis could not be clarified.

Does change of residence affect pollinosis? A study of Japanese university students

“…Japanese cedar pollinosis, defined as pollinosis in this study, is the most common form of pollinosis in Japan (Baba et al 2008;Okamoto et al 2009;Okubo et al 2011). Because the pollen is airborne from January through May (Baba et al 2008), all freshmen had experienced part of this pollen season at the time of entrance into Shinshu University.…”

“…The prevalence of pollinosis differs by patient age (Baba et al 2008;Okamoto et al 2009;Okubo et al 2011) and is influenced by several environmental factors, including sibling number (Strachan 1989), farming (Braun-Fahrlander et al 1999;von Mutius and Vercelli 2010), occupational exposure (Gautrin et al 1994), exposure to automobile exhaust gas (Hazenkamp-von Arx et al 2011), air pollution (Seaton et al 1994), and western life-style (von Mutius et al 1998;Kramer et al 2010). Furthermore, the prevalence of pollinosis is affected by geographic environment (Smith 1971;Strachan et al 1997;Austin et al 1999).…”

Challenges for Allergy Diagnosis in Regions with Complex Pollen Exposures

“…As a consequence, any of them can be used to identify cypress sensitization. In Japan, where Japanese cedar allergy is very prevalent [54], Cry j 1 should also be added. To date, there is no efficient procedure to clone and express cypress allergens, and as a consequence, natural forms are incorporated in CRD procedures with the corresponding lack of specificity due to CCD cross-reactivity [55,56].…”

Transcutaneous Peptide Immunotherapy of Japanese Cedar Pollinosis Using Solid-in-Oil Nanodispersion Technology

“…Above all, seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica; Cj) pollen is a significant concern in Japan (1). The prevalence of Cj pollinosis is increasingly affecting over one quarter of the Japanese population (2). Pharmacotherapy is the main approach to treat Cj pollinosis and reduces allergic symptoms; however, symptomatic treatment does not cure allergy.…”