Return to Contents in this Issue

Case Report
 

Detection of a Novel Allergen in Raw Tomato
 

R Asero,1 G Mistrello,2 D Roncarolo,2 S Amato,2 R Arcidiacono,3 D Fortunato4

1 Ambulatorio di Allergologia, Clinica San Carlo, Paderno Dugnano (MI), Italy
2 Lofarma SpA, Milano, Italy
3 Laboratorio Analisi Cliniche, Clinica San Carlo, Paderno Dugnano (MI), Italy
4 CNR, Institute of Science of Food Production, Torino, Italy

J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2008; Vol. 18(5): 397-400
 

 Abstract


The study reports a case of “pure” tomato allergy in an adult female. The responsible allergen was partially characterized by immunoblot analysis, pepsin digestion, and heating. It had a molecular weight of about 9 kDa and was heat-labile and pepsin-resistant, thus confirming the clinical history. Unfortunately, due to the failure of both 2-dimensional electrophoresis analysis and N-terminal sequencing experiments,
it was not possible to characterize the protein further. Based on a comparison with currently known tomato allergens, this seems to be a novel allergen protein.

Key words: Food allergy. Tomato. Allergens. Processing.