Comparative Analysis of the Immune Response and the Clinical Allergic Reaction to Papain-like Cysteine Proteases from Fig, Kiwifruit, Papaya, Pineapple and Mites in an Italian Population

Abstract

Several plant papain-like cysteine proteases are exploited by the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and textile industries. However, some of these enzymes can cause allergic reactions. In this context, we investigated the frequency of sensitization and allergic reactions to some fruit and/or latex cysteine proteases, which are used as additives by the food industry to improve and modify the quality of their products. The FABER test was used to analyse the patients‘ sensitization towards five plants and, for comparison, two homologous mite cysteine proteases. In an Italian population of 341 allergic patients, 133 (39%) had IgE specific for at least one of the seven cysteine proteases under investigation. Most of the patients were IgE positive for Der p 1 and/or Der f 1 (96.38%) reported a clinical history suggestive of respiratory allergy to mites, whereas none of the subjects sensitized to the homologs from papaya, pineapple and fig reported allergy symptoms following ingestion of these foods. Only one patient referred symptoms from ingesting kiwifruit. Therefore, the obtained results showed that sensitization to the fruit enzymes was only rarely concomitant with allergic reactions. These observations, together with the literature reports, suggest that the allergy to plant papain-like cysteine proteases might mainly be an occupational disease.

Plant and Arthropod IgE-Binding Papain-like Cysteine Proteases: Multiple Contributions to Allergenicity

“…It is worth noting that the frequency of sensitisation to Der p 1 and to Der f 1, reported by Giangrieco et al [ 9 ], was higher than that detected for plant food homologs in an Italian population, and that the sensitisation to food PLCPs was very rarely associated with clinical symptoms. Conversely, these two arthropod allergens, to which the exposure route is generally inhalation [ 69 ], provided an important contribution to the prevalence of symptoms common to mite allergy, such as rhinitis, bronchial asthma and conjunctivitis.…”

“…Although all known allergenic PLCPs are reported to show a similar fold, namely the papain-like fold [ 41 ], a comparative analysis of the primary structure of plant food enzymes and a comparison between plants and arthropods homologs highlights a low conservation of the protein sequence [ 9 ]. Conversely, a fairly high level of identity between the two mite allergens belonging to the Dermatophagoides genus, Der p 1 and Der f 1, is reported.…”

“…Conversely, a fairly high level of identity between the two mite allergens belonging to the Dermatophagoides genus, Der p 1 and Der f 1, is reported. In fact, the sequence identity observed between the analysed isoforms of Der p 1 and Der f 1 was about 82%, whereas the values obtained for the homologs from pineapple, papaya, kiwifruit and fig ranged from 29 to 59% [ 9 ]. In line with these structural features, the allergy reaction caused by the two mite PLCPs is almost overlapping, whereas the plant homologous proteins show individual immunological behaviours.…”

“…Some PLCPs can also cause allergic reactions [ 9 ], and those registered as allergens by the World Health Organisation and International Union of Immunological Societies (WHO/IUIS) Allergen Nomenclature Sub-Committee ( ), accessed on 2 January 2024, are listed in Table 1 , where the code (EC number) given by the Enzyme Commission (EC) to the enzyme is also reported, when available.…”

Safety evaluation of the food enzyme endo‐polygalacturonase from the non‐genetically modified Aspergillus tubingensis strain MUCL 55013

“…Sensitisation to papaya has been regularly found in people with oral allergy syndrome (OAS) and/or in latex-allergic patients (Isola et al, 2003). However, reports of clinically relevant allergic reactions are scarce (Mandal et al, 2009;Sharda et al, 2010;Vlaicu et al, 2011;Wan & Chiu, 2012;Bedolla-Barajas et al, 2014;Dey et al, 2014;Giangrieco et al, 2023).…”