National Research Council of Italy

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IBBR publication #1923

Variability of the allergen pattern in different pomegranate cultivars

Tuppo L, Alessandri C, Pasquariello S, Petriccione M, Giangrieco I, Tamburrini M, Rafaiani C, Ciancamerla M, Mari A, Ciardiello MA

Allergy 72: 188-188. (2017)

Introduction:Pomegranate, Punica granatum L., is one of the old-est cultivated fruit trees. The fruit contains the arils, which are seedscovered by a red pulp, that is a juice sac. The arils are surroundedby the white and fleshy mesocarp. Pomegranate can trigger allergicreactions, but the allergenic pattern of this fruit is still poorly charac-terized and only one allergen, the LTP Pun g 1, was reported.Objectives:The aim of this study was the investigation of theallergen pattern in pomegranate tissues and cultivars.Results:Seven different pomegranate types were selected for thisstudy: 2 cultivars, Dente di Cavallo and Zanna Bianca; 3 accessions,CREA-FRC4, CREA-PR1 and CREA-PR2; 1 commercial sampleimported from Israel. Protein extracts, prepared from the mesocarp,juice and seeds, were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC. Someprotein components were purified, identified by protein sequencingand their IgE binding capacity was investigated by dot blotting,immunoblotting and FABER®test. A variable amount of proteinswas measured in the juice of the different cultivars/accessions,whereas the mesocarp was devoid of detectable amounts of them.SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC separations highlighted a different proteinprofile for each cultivar. Four proteins were purified from pomegra-nate juice, namely chitinase, punein (homologous to Bra r 2), pom-maclein (homologous to Pru p 7) and the 9k-LTP Pun g 1. All the 4isolated proteins displayed positive signals in IgE dot blotting andimmunoblotting. Specific IgE towards chitinase, pommaclein and Pung 1 were recorded in 5 (0.31%), 6 (0.37%) and 44 (2.74%) patientsout of 1606, using the FABER nanotech test. In addition, 20 patients(1.25%) were positive to the seed extract.Conclusions:Three new IgE binding proteins were identified inpomegranate juice. It was observed that seed proteins provide a sig-nificant contribution to the pomegranate allergenicity, whereas themesocarp could represent a rich and safe source of nutraceuticalsalso for allergic subjects.

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