ALPG and allergic disease: It has been suggested that proteases from Af, specifically the allergen proteases Mep and Alp 1, might be involved in the development of allergy either directly via the protease dependent release of proinflammatory cytokines (Borger et al. 1999; Kauffman et al. 2000) or indirectly as adjuvants causing sensitisation to other allergens (Kurup et al. 2002).