Wrong proteins targeted in medical apple allergy tests

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21 Nov 2008
Unit: Plant Research International

 Apple-induced allergic reactions are caused by other proteins than assumed by the medical profession until now. This is the result of a study by a team of plant scientists of Wageningen University. These findings were published last week in Plant Biology.

The apple has four groups of allergenic proteins, by scientists referred to as Mal d 1, 2, 3 and 4.The apple has at least twenty genes for Mal d 1 which together can in principle produce forty different proteins, says Dr Eric van de Weg, researcher of Plant Research International.
The medical world is focusing on the frequently occurring protein variants Mal d 1.01 and Mal d 1.02. ‘Our research, however, shows that these are probably not the most important variants for an allergic reaction’, states Van de Weg. When the scientists investigated the genetic background of the high allergenic Golden Delicious and the low allergenic apple varieties Santana and Priscilla, they in particular found a correlation with the variants Mal d 1.04 and 1.06A.

‘This improved understanding of the genetic backgrounds of the allergens in apples enables us to take this into account when breeding an apple variety without allergens’, says the scientist. ‘But our research can also help the medical profession in developing better diagnostics and therapies for allergy patients. Until now the medical world is mainly basing its allergy measurements on a protein variant that is hardly distinguishing for low or high allergenic apples.’ / Albert Sikkema

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Eric van de Weg
Plant Research International
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eric.vandeweg@wur.nl
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