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ViewAttendees 3

Member Symposium

Early Career

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology

Early Career Professional Recognition Symposium

Tick-bites and alpha-gal syndrome: Host-specific alpha-gal levels in the salivary gland of the lone star tick Amblyomma americanum

Tuesday, November 7, 2023
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland 3-4
In-Person
Bites of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, containing alpha-gal (aGal, galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose) are thought to be the sensitizers for alpha-gal syndrome (AGS or red-meat allergy) in humans in North America. AGS is caused by the enhanced production of IgE antibodies against the aGal, a glycan commonly found in mammals with the exception of humans and the old-world monkey. Interestingly, AGS occurs only in a subset of people experiencing tick bites, implying the presence of variations in the causal factor, tick bites, and in human response to tick bites. In our previous study, we tested the transmission hypothesis, in which aGal acquired from the previous mammalian host could be injected into human in a subsequent feeding. The hypothesis was not supported in the study using the alpha-galactosyltransferase knockout mouse model system (αGT-KO). In this study, we investigated the variation of aGal levels in tick salivary glands after feeding on different blood sources; feeding on bovine or human blood through artificial tick feeding system, or on dogs and rabbits directly on the animal. The study was expanded to different populations of A. americanum tick fed on human blood. Overall, we found that ticks fed on human blood produce significantly higher levels of aGal than those fed on the blood of other mammals with large variations among different geographical populations and individual ticks. We propose that the large variation in the levels of tick salivary aGal, the AGS sensitizer, is a factor contributing to the variation in the manifestation of AGS.