Ascaris suum allergenic components (PIII) separated by gel filtration chromatography of an adult worm extract were used to immunize BALB/c mice. Popliteal lymph node cells taken from the immunized animals were fused with SP2/O myeloma cells using polyethylene glycol (MW 1450) as fusogen. The hybridomas were cultured in HATcontaining medium and cloned at limiting dilutions.

It is known that in a part of the population, mainly among children, some are hypersensitive to soybean protein, although it is not yet completely elucidated which protein fraction is more immunogenic/ allergenic. The objective of the study was to compare the immunogenicity and allergenicity of the soy protein fractions. The 2S (conglycinin), 7S (β conglycinin) and 11S (glycinin) fractions were isolated from soy protein by affinity chromatography. These purified soy protein fractions were used as antigens for immunizing BALB/c mice to evaluate their immunogenicity by following the appearance of specific IgM and IgG antibodies in blood serum by ELISA. The allergenicity of these soy protein fractions was evaluated by the following approaches: i) the production of IgE antibodies against 2S, 7S and 11S soy protein fractions by BALBc mice in the anaphylactic cutaneous passive test (PCA), and ii) the production of IgG1 specific antibodies against the 7S fraction in BALB/c mice. The 7S and 11S fractions induced the formation of IgM and IgG antibodies. The PCA test showed that only the 7S fraction was allergenic leading to the production of IgE antibodies. Another evidence that reinforces the allergenicity of the 7S soy protein fraction is the presence of IgG1 specific antibodies reactive to this protein fraction in immunized mice. Our study shows that the 7S soy protein fraction is important to elicit allergic reactions in mice and may contribute to elucidate the allergenicity of soy-derived products. INTRODUCTIONAllergic reactions to foods result from heightened immunologic responses to glycoprotein components present in the foods and constitute a frequent health complaint (Metcalfe, 1991;Shah, Walker, 2002). Children and adults who develop such reactions are said to have a food hypersensitivity or food allergy that are terms proposed to define a reaction to food exposure causing objectively reproducible symptoms or signs at a dose A. L. Bittencourt, M. F. M. Soares, R. R. Pires, C. S. Honmoto, M. K. Tanaka, C. M. A. Jacob, D. S. P. Abdalla 598 tolerated by normal subjects (Crespo et al., 2004). The prevalence of food allergy in children appears to be increasing for reasons that are still poorly understood. It has been estimated that approximately 6% of young children and about 2% of the general population have food allergy, with the majority experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms (Sampson, 2003).A number of factors can affect the development of food allergy. One is the amount of a particular food that is ingested, which is influenced by diet and culture of a country. This can have a significant effect on the prevalence of a specific food allergy in that region. Examples of this are codfish allergy in Norway, rice and soy allergy in Japan, and peanut allergy in the U.S. Other factors involved in food allergies are the gut permeability, that has been considered to be a major factor in food allergy sensitization, and the food processing that can substantially modify food allergen content. Most food allergens are stable ...