Page - 56 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
Image of the Page - 56 -
Text of the Page - 56 -
56
symptoms are manifested, it is crucial to define the threshold of airborne concentra-
tions of pollen that provoke these symptoms. However, it is well known that defin-
ing such thresholds involves highly demanding and complicated investigations,
with values varying between sites, countries, geoclimatic regions, different years
and per pollen type (de Weger et al. 2013).
3.4 Adjuvant Factors from Pollen and Impact
of Environmental Factors
When we are exposed to pollen, it is not only the allergenic proteins that we inhale
that affect us, but also our mucosa and/or skin are exposed to biochemically com-
plex particles. Indeed, the allergenicity of pollen is not only the result of the allergen
but also of adjuvant factors from pollen, such as lipids and pollen-derived adenosine
(Dittlein et al. 2016; Gilles-Stein et al. 2016). Thus, exposure to allergens is neces-
sary but not sufficient for the development of allergy (Gilles etÂ
al. 2009). By analys-
ing the pollen’s metabolome, Gilles et al. (2011) found that pollens release a wide
array of different bioactive substances such as sugars, lipids, secondary metabolites
and hormones. Notably, these bioactive mediators bind to receptors on human
immune cells, which could promote allergic sensitisation to pollen-derived proteins
or boost already manifested allergic immune responses. These substances, apart
from the allergen itself, could be responsible for the potency of the allergenicity of
pollen. Furthermore, these adjuvant mediators are influenced by environmental fac-
tors such as ozone (Beck et al. 2013). Only recently has part of the pollen microbi-
ome been discovered (Obersteiner et al. 2016). This microbiome of pollen is not
only species-specific, but also influenced by environmental factors (Obersteiner
et al. 2016).
3.5 New Pollen Allergies: The Case ofÂ
Ragweed
The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization has reported the
species Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (common ragweed; Fig. 3.2) as an invasive and
alien plant (Brunel et al. 2010). Apart from being a harmful weed, its pollen is
highly allergenic. As ragweed has become naturalised in Europe, it is now quite
common in regional flora in many areas across the continent (Smith et al. 2013).
This expansion in European flora is expected to be reflected in human health by
increasing sensitisation rates in allergic individuals (Burbach et al. 2009). These
rates have already been reported as extremely high, often reaching 80% (TableÂ
3.1).
The most commonly implicated allergen is Amb a 1. There is already evidence of
increasing long-term trends in Ambrosia-specific IgE antibodies from 20% in the
A. Damialis et al.
Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
- Title
- Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change
- Authors
- Melissa Marselle
- Jutta Stadler
- Horst Korn
- Katherine Irvine
- Aletta Bonn
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-02318-8
- Size
- 15.5 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 508
- Keywords
- Environment, Environmental health, Applied ecology, Climate change, Biodiversity, Public health, Regional planning, Urban planning
- Categories
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima