This study aimed to identify proteolytic bacteria from Thai traditional fermented foods and investigate their allergenic reducing potentials to wheat and milk allergens. Nine bacteria were isolated from fermented foods as follows: fermented soybean seeds (Thua Nao), fermented soybean paste (Thua Nao), wheat flour dough of steamed stuffed bun (Sa La Pao), and soaked rice from Thai fermented rice-noodle (Kha Nhom Jeen) processing. Both phenotypic and genotypic identifications were used in this study. It was found that all isolates were Gram-positive rods. Seven isolates were matched and identified as Bacillus subtilis by both techniques, and the remaining 2 isolates were phenotypically and genotypically identified as B. licheniformis and B. subtilis, respectively. The concentrated crude enzyme of B. subtilis DB and SR could reduce allergenicity of gliadin by hydrolyzing the allergenic gliadin fragments detected by immunoblotting. Furthermore, the enzyme of B. subtilis DB could also reduce allergenicity of beta-lactoglobulin (beta-LG) detected by hydrolyzing the major allergenic epitope of beta-LG at Gln(35)-Ser(36) position. B. subtilis DB and SR can be applied for the production of hypoallergenic wheat flour or milk food products.

HIV-1 CRF.AE-01 (formerly subtype E) infection is highly prevalent in Southeast Asia. Despite success with public health measures, the development of an effective CRF01.AE vaccine is critical to the control of this epidemic. Sera from the open-label arms of the first clinical trial of a bivalent HIV gp120 SF2/CM235 (subtypes B and CRF.AE-01, respectively) vaccine were evaluated for the presence of gp120-specific binding (BAb) and neutralizing antibody (NAb). Twelve pre- and postvaccination sera pairs were tested for CM235 BAb; anti-gp120 CM235 BAb was found in all postvaccination samples. The 12 pre- and postvaccination (1 month after third vaccination) serum pairs were evaluated in several neutralization formats: heterologous T cell line adapted (TCLA) NP03/H9, homologous CM235/PBMC, CM235/dendritic cell, and CM235M4-C4.6/A3R5. A3R5 is a CCR5+ T cell line, and CM235M4-C4.6 is the homologous CM235 virus adapted to growth in A3R5 cells. All volunteers developed BAb, but meaningful NAb was not demonstrable against primary isolate CM235. Using the TCLA CRF01.AE virus NP03 in H9 cells, 9 of 12 persons had NAb with a geometric mean titer (GMT) of 46. The CM235M4-C4.6 virus in A3R5 cells also detected NAb in 9 of 12 persons, with a GMT of 41. CM235M4-C4.6/A3R5 detected NAb in two persons with negligible NAb to NP03/H9 and vice versa. Whether the NAb detected by the CM235M4-C4.6/A3R5 system is qualitatively different from those in more traditional NP03/H9 assays will require further study.

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