Mites are a major source of allergens and contributor to the rising incidence of allergic diseases, including bronchial asthma, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis. Digestive enzymes produced by mites and released into the environment are potent allergens and a target for the treatment of allergic hypersensitivity.
We performed the first detailed profiling of digestive proteolytic enzymes in the house dust mite Dermatophagoides farinae using functional proteomics and identified cathepsin B (DfCB) as a new major component protease. Recombinant DfCB was produced in the yeast expression system and enzymologically characterized. Furthermore, the purified DfCB was crystallized, and its preliminary 3D structure was solved by X-ray crystallography.
This work was supported by the grant number 6061/23.