title: Determinants of food allergy.
abstract: Food allergy is an emerging epidemic in the United States and the Western world. The determination of factors that make certain foods allergenic is still not clearly understood. Only a tiny fraction of thousands of proteins and other molecules is responsible for inducing food allergy. In this review, the authors present 3 examples of food allergies with disparate clinical presentations: peanut, soy, and mammalian meat. The potential relationships between allergen structure and function, emphasizing the importance of cross-reactive determinants, immunoglobulin E antibodies to the oligosaccharides, and the immune responses induced in humans are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, The Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Anbg 17-40, One Gustave L Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Madhan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masilamani
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Commins
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shreffler
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D008460:Meat / Q000009:adverse effects; D021183:Peanut Hypersensitivity; D010944:Plants / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology; D045730:Soy Foods / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E