TY - JOUR T1 - Can dog allergen alone, if combined with indoor pollution, be responsible for asthma in children? JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 744 LP - 745 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00057311 VL - 38 IS - 3 AU - G. Liccardi AU - I. Annesi-Maesano AU - A. Salzillo AU - G. D’Amato Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/3/744.2.abstract N2 - To the Editors:We read with interest the article by Carlsten et al. [1] showing the increasing risk of incident asthma in a high-risk birth cohort after early co-exposure to dog allergen (Can f 1) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) or environmental tobacco smoke. The topic is highly relevant because most studies on the interaction between allergens and air pollution regard outdoor environments and very few articles have been published on the possible allergen–pollutant relationship in indoor places.Nevertheless, we think that other limitations to the study should be considered in addition to those already acknowledged by the authors. In their study, they referred to the article of McConnell et al. [2] that showed a significant association between “bronchitis symptoms” and particulate matter only in the subset of asthmatic children who owned dogs. However, McConnell et al. [2] examined the relationship of both dog and cat ownership with air pollution, and reported that effects were … ER -