The Ailanthus altissima pollen (
AAP) has been reported as an emerging aeroallergen worldwide. This paper aims at examining the
allergen pattern and the elemental composition of A. altissima pollen collected during two consecutive seasons (2014 and 2015). A gel-based allergomic study and SEM coupled to energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis have been carried out in order to evaluate the allergenic and elemental composition of
AAP in two consecutive years. The
IgE reactive patterns of 2014 and 2015
AAP PBS extracts were compared using the serum of a 31-year-old woman suffering from severe
pollinosis symptoms to
AAP. The EDX analysis revealed an important year-to-year variation in the ratios of some polluting elements such as
nickel,
sulfur,
aluminum, lead, and
copper. Gel alignments and comparative immunoproteomic analyses showed differential
protein expression and
IgE reactive patterns between AAPs collected in 2014 and 2015 pollinating seasons. From 20 distinct
IgE-reactive spots detected in
AAP extracts, 13
proteins showed higher expression in 2014 sample, while 7
allergen candidates exhibited an increased expression in
AAP collected in 2015. Matrix-assisted
laser desorption ionization-MS/MS analyses led to the identification of 13
IgE-
binding proteins with confidence, all belonging to well-known allergenic
protein families, i.e.,
enolase,
calreticulin, and
pectate lyase. Overall, the 2014
AAP showed higher concentrations of urban polluting elements as well as an increased expression of allergenic
pectate lyase isoforms of about 52 kDa. This study demonstrates that the implementation of allergomic tools for the safety assessment of newly introduced and invasive plant species would help to the comprehensive monitoring of proteomic and transcriptomic alterations involving environmental
allergens.