title: Common food allergens and their IgE-binding epitopes.
abstract: Food allergy is an adverse immune response to certain kinds of food. Although any food can cause allergic reactions, chicken egg, cow's milk, wheat, shellfish, fruit, and buckwheat account for 75% of food allergies in Japan. Allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies play a pivotal role in the development of food allergy. Recent advances in molecular biological techniques have enabled the efficient analysis of food allergens. As a result, many food allergens have been identified, and their molecular structure and IgE-binding epitopes have also been identified. Studies of allergens have demonstrated that IgE antibodies specific to allergen components and/or the peptide epitopes are good indicators for the identification of patients with food allergy, prediction of clinical severity and development of tolerance. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge regarding the allergens and IgE epitopes in the well-researched allergies to chicken egg, cow's milk, wheat, shrimp, and peanut.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan. Electronic address: hmatsuo@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology and Therapeutics, Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokooji
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taogoshi
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology*; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000276:immunology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D000939:Epitopes; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: Allergen; Diagnosis; Epitope; Food allergy; Immunoglobulin E