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Characterization of plant food allergens: An overview on physicochemical and immunological techniques
Author(s) -
Harrer Andrea,
Egger Matthias,
Gadermaier Gabriele,
Erler Anja,
Hauser Michael,
Ferreira Fátima,
Himly Martin
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
molecular nutrition and food research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.495
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1613-4133
pISSN - 1613-4125
DOI - 10.1002/mnfr.200900096
Subject(s) - food allergy , allergen , food allergens , allergy , sensitization , food products , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , medicine , characterization (materials science) , biology , food science , nanotechnology , materials science
Allergy to plant‐derived foods is a highly complex disorder with clinical manifestations ranging from mild oral, gastrointestinal, and cutaneous symptoms to life‐threatening systemic conditions. This heterogeneity in clinical manifestations has been attributed to different properties of allergenic molecules. Based on this fact, symptom elicitors were grouped into class I and pollinosis‐associated class II food allergens, but clear distinction is rather ambiguous. Moreover, mechanisms underlying food sensitization are not fully understood yet, and food allergy management most often relies on patient's compliance to avoid suspected foods. Therefore, recent efforts aim at the investigation of plant food allergies at the molecular level. This review provides an overview on currently available techniques for allergen characterization and discusses their application for investigation of plant food allergens. Data obtained by an array of physicochemical analyses, such as allergen structure, integrity, aggregation, and stability, need to be linked to results from immunological methods at the level of IgE and T‐cell reactivity. Such knowledge allows the development of computational algorithms to predict allergenicity of novel foods being introduced by biotechnological industry. Furthermore, molecular characterization is an indispensable tool for molecule‐based diagnosis and future development of safer patient‐tailored specific immunotherapy in plant food allergy.