Egg and milk allergens

Abstract

The structural attributes of the major protein components found cow's milk and hen's egg which are involved in driving IgE-mediated allergies to these foods are varied and come from a range of different animal allergen families. For cow's milk this includes the rheomorphic calcium binding caseins, together with the whey proteins, β-lactoglobulin, a highly stable protein which is resistant to digestion and thermal processing, which is a member of the lipocalin family of allergens, together with α-lactalbumin, a member of the C-type lysozyme family. It has a high level of structural homology with the minor hen's egg allergen, lysozyme. Allergy and presents the major allergen families found in these important allergenic foods. The major egg allergens originate from the egg whist and include the highly glycosylated protein, ovomucoid which belongs to the Kazal family of trypsin inhibitors, together with the highly abundant protein ovalbumin which belongs to the serpin family of serine protease inhibitors but does not possess any inhibitory activity. The conservation of their structure and sequence across many mammalian species farmed for their milk and avian species farmed for their eggs, means they act as cross-reactive allergens.