Food allergens: molecular and immunological aspects, allergen databases and cross-reactivity

The currently known food allergens are assigned to a relatively small number of protein families. Food allergens grouped into protein families share common functional and structural features that can be attributed to the allergenic potency and potential cross-reactivity of certain proteins. Molecular data, in terms of structural information, biochemical characteristics and clinical relevance for each known allergen, including isoforms and variants, are mainly compiled into four open-access databases. Allergens are designated according to defined criteria by the World Health Organization and the International Union of Immunological Societies Allergen Nomenclature Sub-committee. Food allergies are caused by primary sensitisation to the disease-eliciting food allergens (class I food allergen), or they can be elicited as a consequence of a primary sensitisation to inhalant allergens and subsequent IgE cross-reaction to homologous proteins in food (class II food allergens). Class I and class II allergens display different clinical significance in children and adults and are characterised by different molecular features. In line with this, high stability when exposed to gastrointestinal digestion and heat treatment is attributed to many class I food allergens that frequently induce severe reactions. The stability of a food allergen is determined by its molecular characteristics and can be influenced by structural (chemical) modifications due to thermal processing. Moreover, the immunogenicity and allergenicity of food allergens further depends on specific T cell and B cell epitopes. Although the T cell epitope pattern can be highly diverse for individual patients, several immuno-prominent T cell epitopes have been identified. Such conserved T cell epitopes and IgE cross-reactive B cell epitopes contribute to cross-reactivity between food allergens of the same family and to clinical cross-reactivity, similar to the birch pollen-food syndrome.