Plant allergens, being one of the most widespread allergenic substances, are hard to avoid. Hence, their identification and characterization are of prime importance for the diagnosis and treatment of food allergy. The reported allergies to fruits mainly evoke oral allergy syndrome caused by the presence of cross-reactive IgE to certain pollens and thus, allergy to fruits has also been linked to...

Over the past decades, major allergens of the most important allergenic foods have been identified, isolated, cloned and expressed as recombinant molecules. This development has sparked off a revolution in allergology towards molecular approaches for diagnosis and therapy. The roles of individual molecules in clinical phenotypes are being elucidated rapidly. One of the first clear examples that...

Plant allergies are a frequent cause of visits to the allergologist. In the Alergologica 2005 study carried out in Spain, fruits were the main cause of food allergies [1]. Plant allergies in a specific population are related to consumption habits and to the pollen pattern of the region under study. The objective of this retrospective study was to determine the proteins responsible for fruit all...

Rosaceae fruit allergy is the most common food allergy in Europe in patients over 5 years of age. The two fruits most frequently involved are peach and apple. Different clinical phenotypes of peach allergy are observed across Europe in relation to different allergen sensitisation patterns to the peach allergens Pru p1 (Bet v 1 homologue), Pru p 3 (peach lipid transfer protein, LTP), and Pru p 4...

Green Kiwifruit allergy has been widely described and the responsible allergens have been identified. However, no published data or studies have been reported with Gold Kiwifruit. The first case of sensitisation after the ingestion of green kiwifruit was described in 1981. Since that time, a variety of allergic reactions have been related to the ingestion of this fruit. The most common manifest...

Green Kiwifruit allergy has been widely described and the responsible allergens have been identified. However, no published data or studies have been reported with Gold Kiwifruit. The first case of sensitisation after the ingestion of green kiwifruit was described in 1981. Since that time, a variety of allergic reactions have been related to the ingestion of this fruit. The most common manifest...

Results Diagnostic work-up showed a positive prick-prick with both fresh raw and dried fig fruit with a total serum IgE of 312 UI/L and a significant serum specific IgE to fig fruit. Co-sensitization to rubber latex and tropical fruits and cross-reactivity between Ficus benjamina latex, was also studied and a distinctive serum molecular allergy diagnostic profile (ISAC) was obtained. The patien...

There are very few reports on allergic reactions to lychee fruit in the literature. We describe the case of a 26-year-old man who developed pruritus, generalized urticaria, and severe angioedema of his lips and tongue with dyspnea within 15 minutes after lychee fruit intake. Although we found no lychee-specifi c immunoglobulin E antibodies, a basophil activation test (BAT) and a cellular antige...

Cross-reactivity of plant foods is an important phenomenon in allergy, with geographical variations with respect to the number and prevalence of the allergens involved in this process, whose complexity requires detailed studies. We have addressed the role of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) in cross-reactivity between fruit and pollen allergies. A representative panel of 16 purified TLPs was prin...

BACKGROUND The thaumatin-like protein (TLP) Ole e 13 in raw olive fruit is responsible for occupational allergy in olive oil mill workers. However, these workers do not experience allergic symptoms after ingestion of edible olive. OBJECTIVES To analyze the presence of IgE-reactive TLP in raw and edible olive fruit and to assess the allergenic potency of both sources. METHODS The content of ...