The allergenicity of ovomucoid and the effect of its elimination from hen's egg white

Abstract

AbstractIn order to remove the ovomucoid from hen's egg white, chitin and hydrazide polystyrene beads were used as affinity ligands with 8.9 and 7.1 mg trypsin g−1 ligand respectively. Ovomucoid was successfully depleted using the trypsin affinity column without hydrolysation of the other egg white constituents. The components of the egg white were purified by high‐performance liquid chromatography, and then the allergenicity of each of these components was compared with that of pooled human serum derived from patients who are allergic to hen's eggs. The importance of using pure protein for studies of the allergenicity of egg white is highlighted, and it was determined (using an enzyme‐immunosorbent assay) that ovomucoid and ovalbumin are major allergenic proteins in egg white. The ovomucoid‐eliminated egg white preparation exhibited significantly less IgE‐binding activity than normal egg white. The ovomucoid‐specific IgE antibodies may have important implications with regard to the egg‐allergic reaction in humans.© 2001 Society of Chemical Industry