Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Development of recombinant antibodies for a reliable and sensitive food allergen detection

6^th Global Summit and Expo on Food & Beverages

August 03-05, 2015 Orlando-FL, USA

Jaana Haka

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Around 4% of the populations suffer from IgE-mediated food allergies and the number of food-allergenic people is increasing. Individuals with certain pollen allergies may also suffer from a sensitization to proteins in the foods. As an example a person sensitized to the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, is often sensitized to its homologues, such as the major allergens of apple, Mal d 1, and celery, Api g 1, as well. Development of diagnostic tools for the reliable, sensitive and quick detection of allergens present in various food products are essential for allergic persons to prevent the consumption of substances causing mild and even lifethreatening immune responses. The use of monoclonal antibodies would ensure the specific detection of the harmful food content. The production of functional antibody fragments and their efficient display on the filamentous phage have made it possible to construct large and diverse antibody phage display libraries for the isolation of recombinant antibodies. We have constructed mouse IgG antibody libraries from immunized mice and selected them for Mal d 1 and Api g 1-specific recombinant antibodies by phage display. The isolated allergen-specific Fab fragments exhibit high affinity towards the target recombinant as well as native allergens from natural sources. Interestingly, isolated Mal d 1-specific antibody bound also to Bet v 1, the main allergen eliciting the crossreactivity syndrome between the birch pollen and apple. With further development, these antibodies can be utilised as diagnostic tools for the specific and reliable detection of allergens from different consumable products.