Abstract
An increasing proportion of the population is affected by food allergy. Some food allergens (‘incomplete’ allergens) elicit clinical symptoms only owing to their homology with other allergens, while others (‘complete’) can both sensitize and elicit clinical symptoms. To challenge food allergy, it should be effective to invest more energy in tackling the complete ones. Post-translational modification proteomics allows a comprehensive investigation of complete allergens. It provides clues to elucidate mechanisms of the structures that contribute to allergenicity, which thus, in turn, to help alleviate food allergens. This review summarizes the recent proteomic challenges to identify and alleviate food allergens, especially through disulfide-related studies.
Acknowledgements
We appreciate the help of Professor Bob Buchanan of the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, for his critical review of the manuscript. Also appreciated is Dr Shigeru Kuroda, Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (BRAIN), Tokyo, Japan, for his encouragement throughout this work.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This work was supported in part by a grant for Research for the Utilization and Industrialization of Agricultural Biotechnology (Agri-Bio) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.