Profilins

Allergenic reactivity of the melon profilin Cuc m 2 and its identification as major allergen

“…The differential IgE binding was supported by the specific IgE levels to each allergen form detected in the 23 individual sera forming the pool, being higher for nCuc m 2 in 21 of them. Thus, natural melon profilin seems to be a better diagnostic tool, at least in vitro , than its recombinant counterpart, as previously reported for profilins from other plant sources [13, 14].…”

“…Unfortunately, the reactive component could not be purified and characterized, but indirect evidence suggested its profilin nature. Plant profilins are labile panallergens [13], thus fitting the properties expected for putative melon allergens causing co‐sensitization to plant foods and pollens and local oropharyngeal symptoms. However, their clinical relevance is still not clear [14], and their prevalence (determined by the presence of specific IgE) in most pollen and plant food‐allergic population is scarce (around 10–30%) [13].…”

“…Plant profilins are labile panallergens [13], thus fitting the properties expected for putative melon allergens causing co‐sensitization to plant foods and pollens and local oropharyngeal symptoms. However, their clinical relevance is still not clear [14], and their prevalence (determined by the presence of specific IgE) in most pollen and plant food‐allergic population is scarce (around 10–30%) [13]. Moreover, the low profilin content in extracts from most fruit and vegetables, together with its tendency to aggregate, have usually prevented the isolation of natural forms, and, consequently, their use in diagnostic trials.…”

“…Plant profilins are 14 kDa (131–134 amino acid residues) cytosolic proteins involved in regulating the actin cytoskeleton (see reference [13] for a review). They constitute a highly conserved (amino acid sequence identities over 70% between most pairs of members) panallergen family, which is present in almost every plant source investigated.…”

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

“…Both the upstream and downstream of the coding sequences for these two new Mal d 4 genes differ from their closely related genes. All these apple profilins have the same conserved G-actin-binding region (119-126 amino acids VERLGDYL) as pollen profilins from birch, celery, maize and rice (Ye et al 2001;Radauer and Hoffmann-Sommergruber 2004). Still, the actual locations for these new Mal d 2 and Mal d 4 genes have to be determined.…”