Background A substantial subgroup of asthmatic patients have “nonallergic” or idiopathic
asthma, which often takes a severe course and is difficult to treat. The cause might be
allergic reactions to the gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, a frequent
colonizer of the upper airways. However, the driving allergens of S aureus have remained
elusive. Objective We sought to search for potentially allergenic S aureus proteins and
characterize the immune response directed against them. Methods S aureus extracellular …