Tomato profilin Lyc e 1: IgE cross‐reactivity and allergenic potency

Abstract

The tomato profilin is a minor allergen in tomato fruit. Thus, it shows biological activity, as confirmed by in vitro histamine release assays with human basophils and thereby has the potential to account for clinical symptoms in tomato-allergic patients.

Skin prick test analysis reveals cross-sensitization to tomato profilin and grass pollen in nasobronchialallergic patients with history of tomato food allergy

“…Understanding the spectrum of cross-reactive pollen-food allergies in different populations is required for the proper diagnosis and treatment of such allergic disorders. The association between grass-pollen sensitization and allergy to tomato fruit is known from studies in Europe and Japan (24)(25)(26)28,30); however, there are no reports of such studies in the Indian population. The present study describes a preliminary investigation based on case history and SPT in a study group of 246 allergic rhinitis / asthma patients in Mysuru city, India, aimed at understanding the importance of tomato profilin as a cross-reactive allergen.…”

“…The prevalence of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) allergy was estimated to range from 1.5% to 16% among food-allergic populations (24)(25)(26)(27), and up to 39.2% among grass pollen-allergic patients (28). Profilin from tomato fruit (14 kDa; Sola l 1) has been identified as a food allergen, and has been cloned and characterized (29,30). It was observed at the Allergy, Asthma and Chest Centre in Mysuru (India) that most of the allergic rhinitis and/or asthma patients (patients sensitized to pollen) had allergy to one or more raw vegetables and fruits.…”

“…In subjects with tomato allergy and multiple sensitization to other foods and birch pollen, IgE directed against tomato profilin showed a strong cross-reactivity with profilins from plant food sources and birch pollen. Westphal et al (30) concluded that tomato profilin is a minor allergen in tomato fruit. In studies of profilin sensitization by SPT, Asero et al (34,35) highlighted the clinical importance of diagnosing hypersensitivity to single food allergenic proteins immediately in the office; this is especially useful for the allergist if the relevant food allergen sources contain several allergenic proteins that show different physicochemical characteristics and, hence, completely different risk profiles.…”

Genomic characterization and linkage mapping of the apple allergen genes Mal d 2 (thaumatin-like protein) and Mal d 4 (profilin)

“…The basic biological functions of profilins have been attributed to cell elongation, cell shape maintenance, and flowering (Ramachandran et al 2000), seedling development (McKinney et al 2001) and pollen tube growth (McKenna et al 2004). Apart from pollen, many fruits contain profilins and their allergenic potency has been frequently reported (Scheurer et al 2000(Scheurer et al , 2001Wensing et al 2002;Asero et al 2003;Rodriguez-Perez et al 2003;Westphal et al 2004). When we started this research, three distinct mRNA sequences (AF129426, AF129427 and AF129428) encoding three isoallergens of apple profilin were available in the GenBank/EMBL nucleotide database.…”

Reduction of Allergenic Proteins by the Effect of theripening inhibitor(rin) Mutant Gene in an F1Hybrid of therinMutant Tomato

“…9) To date, the following possible tomato fruit allergens have been identified through an immunoblotting analysis with the patients' sera: PG-2A, -fructofuranosidase, superoxide dismutase, pectinesterase, suberization-associated anionic peroxidase, and profilin. [10][11][12] The allergenicity of a ripe tomato is reportedly higher than that of an unripe tomato. 13) Ripening of tomato fruit involves various biochemical and physiological changes such as increased ethylene production, fruit colour development, softening, seed maturation, flavour, texture, and aroma.…”