CASE REPORT: ORAL ALLERGY SYNDROME AND JAPANESE CEDAR POLLEN POLLINOSIS

Abstract

Association of pollinosis with sensitivity to fruits and vegetables has been reported. A Japanese cedar pollinosis is the most popular disease in Japan, however there are quite few papers about cross-reactivity between Japanese cedar pollen and fruits or vegetables.Using the serum from a 14-years old girl, who has Japanese cedar pollinosis and oral allergy syndrome after eating tomato since 12 years old, we have studied the cross reactive allergens from Japanese cedar pollen and tomato extracts.The study was performed by SDS-PAGE immunoblot and inhibition immunoblot. In immunoblotting, the patient's IgE antibody reacted to both major allergens of Japanese cedar pollen, Cry j1 and Cry j2, and several tomato protein bands including non-specific bands. Inhibition immunoblot study has shown that the IgE binding to Cry j1, not Cry j2, can be inhibited by tomato fruit extract. However, only binding to 14kDa protein in the tomato fruit extracts can be inhibited by Japanese cedar pollen extract. Therefore, the observed cross-reactivity of Japanese cedar pollens and tomato fruit may be due to 14kDa proteins.