Giangrieco Ivana, Ciardiello Maria Antonietta, Tamburrini Maurizio, Tuppo Lisa, Rafaiani Chiara, Mari Adriano, Alessandri Claudia
Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 80131 Naples, Italy.
Associated Centers for Molecular Allergology (CAAM), 00100 Rome, Italy.
Foods. 2023 Jul 27;12(15):2852. doi: 10.3390/foods12152852.
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.
几种植物木瓜蛋白酶样半胱氨酸蛋白酶被食品、化妆品、制药和纺织工业所利用。然而，其中一些酶会引起过敏反应。在此背景下，我们调查了对一些水果和/或乳胶半胱氨酸蛋白酶的致敏频率和过敏反应，这些酶被食品工业用作添加剂以改善和改变其产品质量。使用FABER试验分析患者对五种植物以及作为对照的两种同源螨半胱氨酸蛋白酶的致敏情况。在意大利的341名过敏患者群体中，133名（39%）对所研究的七种半胱氨酸蛋白酶中的至少一种具有特异性IgE。大多数对Der p 1和/或Der f 1 IgE呈阳性的患者（96.38%）报告有提示对螨类呼吸道过敏的临床病史，而对木瓜、菠萝和无花果同源物致敏的受试者中，没有一人在摄入这些食物后报告过敏症状。只有一名患者提及食用猕猴桃后出现症状。因此，所获得的结果表明，对水果酶的致敏很少与过敏反应同时发生。这些观察结果以及文献报道表明，对植物木瓜蛋白酶样半胱氨酸蛋白酶的过敏可能主要是一种职业病。
