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Whole Allergen

w3 Giant Ragweed

w3 Giant Ragweed Scientific Information

Type:

Whole Allergen

Display Name:

Giant Ragweed

Route of Exposure:

Inhalation

Family:

Asteraceae (Compositae)

Species:

A. trifida

Latin Name:

Ambrosia trifida

Other Names:

Great ragweed, giant ragweed, tall ragweed, blood ragweed, Texan great ragweed

Related Allergens: w230 Amb a 1

Summary

Giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) is an herbaceous annual weed, native to North America and introduced to many countries in Europe and Asia. It is associated with allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis and asthma as well as contact dermatitis. Giant ragweed shows high levels of cross-reactivity with other ragweeds (Ambrosia species) and mugwort (Artemisia species).

Allergen

Nature

Giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida) is an herbaceous annual weed native to North America and Mexico. It has been introduced to many countries in Europe and Asia and is the most prevalent ragweed species in northern China (1-3). Giant ragweed is often one of the earliest plants to emerge during the spring and is mainly wind-pollinated. It is estimated that a single plant can produce up to 10 million pollen grains per day and one billion pollen grains in its lifetime (1, 3).

The ragweed (Ambrosia spp) pollen season has become significantly longer over the last 20 years, possibly due to climate change influences on plant distribution, flowering season, pollen load and allergenicity. Weed pollen and grass pollen seasons overlap in most parts of Europe, as do ragweed and mugwort pollen seasons (4).

Taxonomy      

 

Taxonomic tree of Ambrosia trifida (1)  

Domain

Eukaryota

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Spermatophyta

Subphylum

Angiospermae

Class

Dicotyledonae

Family

Asteraceae

Genus

Ambrosia.

Taxonomic tree of Ambrosia trifida (1)  

Tissue

Weed pollen

Epidemiology

Worldwide distribution 

Ragweed pollen is an important allergen source: Ambrosia species (of which short ragweed, giant ragweed and western ragweed are the most widespread) are major elicitors of pollen allergy in North America. In a study of 50 Chinese patients (aged 8–54 years) with weed pollen-induced allergic rhinitis, 34 % had specific IgE to giant ragweed allergen, Amb t (2)

Risk factors 

Climate change modelling suggests there will be an impact on the giant ragweed distribution area, although whether this will potentially increase or decrease depends on the climate scenario (5).

Environmental Characteristics

Worldwide distribution

Giant ragweed is an aggressive weed that prefers disturbed ground, including cultivated land, pasture, roadsides, riverbanks and grasslands, especially flood plains. This enables it to dominate the growing season, leading to poor yields and reduced biodiversity of native species (1).

Route of Exposure

Main 

The main route of exposure is inhalation.

Clinical Relevance

Giant ragweed pollen causes seasonal allergic rhinitis, asthma and conjunctivitis in sensitized patients as well as contact dermatitis (3, 6).

Asthma

Giant ragweed pollen can rupture osmotically in the atmosphere, producing sub-pollen particles that penetrate deeper into the respiratory tract than intact pollen grains, potentially triggering severe asthma 

Prevention and Therapy

Allergen immunotherapy

Allergenic cross-reactivity exists between Amb a (short or common ragweed), Amb p (western ragweed) and Amb t (giant ragweed), and given the effective Amb b inhibition of Amb p and Amb t suggests that an Amb a-based, single-species allergen immunotherapy may be successful in patients allergic to diverse ragweed pollens, although species-specific immunotherapy may be required given the allergen diversity (7, 8)

Molecular Aspects

Allergenic molecules    

Allergen

Class

Amb t 5

4.4 kDa basic protein

Amb t 5.0101

Isoform of Amb t 5

Amb t 8

Profilin

Allergen

Class

Amb t 5 (a secreted basic protein) is an identified allergen from giant ragweed. Amb t 5 is homologous to Amb a 5 from short or common ragweed (A. artemisiifolia), although their sequence homology is relatively low at 45 % (6). In a proteomic study of  other proteins were identified including some pectate lyases (Amb a 1.2, 1.4, and Amb a 2) as well as a profilin and profilin-3 (9).

Cross-reactivity

The presence of homologous allergens leads to extensive IgE cross-reactivity between the pollen extracts Amb t from giant ragweed, Amb p from western ragweed (A. psilostachya) and Amb a from short or common ragweed (A. artemisiifolia) (6, 8)

A high degree of IgE cross-reactivity is seen among different species of ragweed (Ambrosia spp) and mugwort (Artemisia) and to other allergenic plants of the Asteraceae family. (4). 

Compiled By

Author: RubyDuke Communications

Reviewer: Dr. Michael Thorpe

 

Last reviewed:February 2022

References
  1. CABI. Ambrosia trifida (giant ragweed) Wallingford, UK2021 [cited 2021 14.12.21]. Available from: https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/4693.
  2. Han D, Lai X, Gjesing B, Zhong N, Zhang L, Spangfort MD. The specific IgE reactivity pattern of weed pollen-induced allergic rhinitis patients. Acta Otolaryngol. 2011;131(5):533-8.
  3. LOINC. Giant Ragweed triggered histamine release [Units/volume] in Blood 2021 [cited 2021 14.12.21]. Available from: https://loinc.org/7649-7/.
  4. Matricardi PM, Kleine-Tebbe J, Hoffmann HJ, Valenta R, Hilger C, Hofmaier S, et al. EAACI Molecular Allergology User's Guide. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2016;27 Suppl 23:1-250.
  5. Rasmussen K, Thyrring J, Muscarella R, Borchsenius F. Climate-change-induced range shifts of three allergenic ragweeds (Ambrosia L.) in Europe and their potential impact on human health. PeerJ. 2017;5:e3104.
  6. Gadermaier G, Dedic A, Obermeyer G, Frank S, Himly M, Ferreira F. Biology of weed pollen allergens. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports. 2004;4(5):391-400.
  7. Christensen LH, Ipsen H, Nolte H, Maloney J, Nelson HS, Weber R, et al. Short ragweeds is highly cross-reactive with other ragweeds. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2015;115(6):490-5.e1.
  8. Würtzen PA, Hoof I, Christensen LH, Váczy Z, Henmar H, Salamanca G, et al. Diverse and highly cross-reactive T-cell responses in ragweed allergic patients independent of geographical region. Allergy. 2020;75(1):137-47.
  9. Barton JS, Schomacker R. Comparative protein profiles of the Ambrosia plants. Biochim Biophys Acta Proteins Proteom. 2017;1865(6):633-9.