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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 5/7/2014 Publication Date: 8/11/2014 Citation: Zhang, Y. 2014. New structural information on food allergens (abstract). Meeting Abstract presented at the 248th American Chemical Society National Meeting on August 11, 2014. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: A small number of protein families are responsible for food allergies suffered by the majority of allergy patients. What properties of these proteins make them allergens is not clear at present. Reliable methods for allergen prediction and mitigation are lacking. Most the immediate type of food allergies are mediated by immunoglobulin E (IgE). IgE antibodies are produced against both linear and conformational epitopes. Numerous studies have characterized linear epitopes and dominant linear epitopes of a number of food allergens have been identified. In contrast, very little information is available regarding conformational epitopes of food allergens. Structural information is not only critical in characterizing conformational epitopes and assessing the relative importance of linear and conformational epitopes, but also required in developing methods to mitigate the allergenicity of food allergens. To date, the structures of 6 of the 12 known peanut allergens have been determined as well as a number of tree nut allergens. These recently reported structures as well as new tree nut structures determined at our facility will be reviewed and discussed. Structural characteristics, information of IgE epitopes, and their usage in predicting allergens will also be discussed. |
