Grantee Research Project Results
2008 Progress Report: Risk Assessment of Food Allergenicity by a Data Base Approach
EPA Grant Number: R833137Title: Risk Assessment of Food Allergenicity by a Data Base Approach
Investigators: Braun, Werner , Schein, Catherine H. , Goldblum, Randall M. , Gendel, Steven , Midoro-Horiuti, Terumi
Current Investigators: Braun, Werner
Institution: The University of Texas Medical Branch - Galveston
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2009
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 2007 through September 30,2008
Project Amount: $600,000
RFA: Biotechnology: Potential Allergenicity of Genetically Engineered Foods (2006) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Human Health
Objective:
The major objectives of this EPA-STAR project are to: 1) maintain our Structural Database of Allergenic Proteins (SDAP), 2) validate our quantitative tools for risk assessment, and 3) analyze common properties of the IgE binding sites on proteins that trigger an allergenic response. The allergenic potential of genetically engineered food products needs to be carefully assessed prior to their entry into the market. As the number and complexity of these bioengineered foods increase, the agency supports the development of scientific resources for determining potential allergenicity, including the availability of up-to-date bioinformatics tools to make such assessments. In our project we will focus on the further development of our established bioinformatics tools to increase the specificity and sensitivity of these bioinformatics tools in predicting the allergenicity of food proteins. We also will study general structural requirements for an allergen by asking the question: What distinguishes an allergenic protein from a non-allergen?
Progress Summary:
My research group has established a Structural Database of Allergenic Proteins (SDAP) (http://fermi.utmb.edu/SDAP/) that provides rapid, cross-referenced access to sequences, structures, and IgE epitopes of more than 900 allergens. SDAP was designed to enable rapid sequence searches to aid in assessing the potential allergenic risk of new food products. A large-scale statistical analysis of all the allergens archived in SDAP revealed that the current bioinformatics guidelines, which use sequence identity as the only quantitative criterion, are far from optimal. Bioinformatics analysis of the properties of allergens has progressed greatly in the last few years. As we have shown, SDAP has reliable tools that go beyond the initial guidelines for determining the potential allergenicity of new food products for regulatory purposes. SDAP now contains a broad array of bioinformatics and computational tools that: (1) can evaluate the overall sequence similarity to a known allergen based on FASTA alignments, (2) evaluate the WHO/FAO rules, (3) find regions identical with known IgE epitopes, (4) identify regions similar with known IgE epitopes and rank them with the PD score, (5) use 3D homology models to identify the amino acids that are important in IgE binding.
Our studies are important to provide a solid scientific foundation in the general discussion on the potential risk of genetically modified (GM) foods. The statistical results and the novel bioinformatics tools can help the EPA to formulate more specific bioinformatics guidelines for companies that would like to bring new recombinant crops to the market place. Because food allergies can result in fatal reactions, the allergenic potential of genetically engineered food products needs to be carefully assessed prior to their entry into the market. There is a vital need for faster and reliable methods to evaluate the potential allergenicity of proteins that have not previously been part of the food supply. Our novel approaches can reduce some uncertainty for those crops that may be potentially allergenic for some sensitive sub-population.
Future Activities:
Future activities include:
- mapping and analysis of IgE epitopes on our 3D models,
- 3D motif search of allergens, and
- use of sequence motifs for quantitative risk analysis.
Journal Articles on this Report : 5 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 46 publications | 13 publications in selected types | All 13 journal articles |
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Ivanciuc O, Schein CH, Garcia T, Oezguen N, Negi SS, Braun W. Structural analysis of linear and conformational epitopes of allergens. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 2009;54(3 Suppl):S11-S19. |
R833137 (2008) R833137 (Final) |
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Ivanciuc O, Garcia T, Torres M, Schein CH, Braun W. Characteristic motifs for families of allergenic proteins. Molecular Immunology 2009;46(4):559-568. |
R833137 (2008) R833137 (Final) |
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Ivanciuc O, Midoro-Horiuti T, Schein CH, Xie L, Hillman GR, Goldblum RM, Braun W. The property distance index PD predicts peptides that cross-react with IgE antibodies. Molecular Immunology 2009;46(5):873-883. |
R833137 (2008) R833137 (Final) |
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Negi SS, Braun W. Automated detection of conformational epitopes using phage display peptide sequences. Bioinformatics and Biology Insights 2009;3:71-81. |
R833137 (2008) R833137 (Final) |
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Oezguen N, Zhou B, Negi SS, Ivanciuc O, Schein CH, Labesse G, Braun W. Comprehensive 3D-modeling of allergenic proteins and amino acid composition of potential conformational IgE epitopes. Molecular Immunology 2008;45(14):3740-3747. |
R833137 (2008) R833137 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
relational database, large scale 3D modeling of proteins, WHO/EFSA recommendations for risk assessment of proteins, Health, Scientific Discipline, Health Risk Assessment, Risk Assessments, Biology, Allergens/Asthma, Biochemistry, food allergenicity, data base development, dietary proteins, oral allergy syndrome, genetically engineered food, human exposure, bioinformatics, allergic responseRelevant Websites:
http://fermi.utmb.edu/SDAP/ Exit
http://born.utmb.edu/automotif/ Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.