Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Campus de Montegancedo, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.
PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44088. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044088. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Cross-reactivity of plant foods is an important phenomenon in allergy, with geographical variations with respect to the number and prevalence of the allergens involved in this process, whose complexity requires detailed studies. We have addressed the role of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) in cross-reactivity between fruit and pollen allergies. A representative panel of 16 purified TLPs was printed onto an allergen microarray. The proteins selected belonged to the sources most frequently associated with peach allergy in representative regions of Spain. Sera from two groups of well characterized patients, one with allergy to Rosaceae fruit (FAG) and another against pollens but tolerant to food-plant allergens (PAG), were obtained from seven geographical areas with different environmental pollen profiles. Cross-reactivity between members of this family was demonstrated by inhibition assays. Only 6 out of 16 purified TLPs showed noticeable allergenic activity in the studied populations. Pru p 2.0201, the peach TLP (41%), chestnut TLP (24%) and plane pollen TLP (22%) proved to be allergens of probable relevance to fruit allergy, being mainly associated with pollen sensitization, and strongly linked to specific geographical areas such as Barcelona, Bilbao, the Canary Islands and Madrid. The patients exhibited >50% positive response to Pru p 2.0201 and to chestnut TLP in these specific areas. Therefore, their recognition patterns were associated with the geographical area, suggesting a role for pollen in the sensitization of these allergens. Finally, the co-sensitizations of patients considering pairs of TLP allergens were analyzed by using the co-sensitization graph associated with an allergen microarray immunoassay. Our data indicate that TLPs are significant allergens in plant food allergy and should be considered when diagnosing and treating pollen-food allergy.
植物食物的交叉反应是过敏反应中的一个重要现象，与涉及该过程的过敏原的数量和流行程度有关，其复杂性需要详细研究。我们研究了类硫素蛋白（TLPs）在水果和花粉过敏之间交叉反应中的作用。代表一组 16 种纯化的 TLPs 被打印到过敏原微阵列上。选择的蛋白质属于在西班牙代表性地区与桃过敏最常相关的来源。从具有不同环境花粉特征的七个地理区域获得了两组具有良好特征的患者的血清，一组对蔷薇科果实（FAG）过敏，另一组对花粉过敏但对食物植物过敏原（PAG）耐受。通过抑制试验证明了该家族成员之间的交叉反应性。在所研究的人群中，只有 16 种纯化的 TLPs 中的 6 种表现出明显的过敏活性。桃 TLP（41%）、栗子 TLP（24%）和悬铃木花粉 TLP（22%）是研究人群中可能与水果过敏相关的过敏原，主要与花粉致敏有关，并与巴塞罗那、毕尔巴鄂、加那利群岛和马德里等特定地区密切相关。在这些特定地区，患者对 Pru p 2.0201 和栗子 TLP 的阳性反应率>50%。因此，它们的识别模式与地理区域相关，表明花粉在这些过敏原致敏中的作用。最后，通过使用与过敏原微阵列免疫分析相关的共致敏图分析了考虑 TLPs 过敏原对患者的共致敏情况。我们的数据表明，TLPs 是植物性食物过敏的重要过敏原，在诊断和治疗花粉-食物过敏时应予以考虑。
