Characterization of Seafood Proteins Causing Allergic Diseases
5 Characterization of Seafood Proteins Causing Allergic Diseases Anas M. Abdel Rahman1, Robert J. Helleur2, Mohamed F. Jeebhay3 and Andreas L. Lopata4 1Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, 2Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL 3Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health Research, University of Cape Town 4School of Pharmacy and Molecular Science, James Cook University 1,2Canada 3South Africa 4Australia 1. Introduction Food allergy is increasing at a faster rate than any other allergic disorder (Gupta et al., 2007). In the last few decades, a large movement toward healthier eating makes seafood one of the major foods consumed worldwide (Wild & Lehrer, 2005). Consequently, the international trade of seafood has been growing rapidly, which reflects the popularity and frequency of consumption worldwide. The United States has become the third largest consumer of seafood in the world, with 1.86 billion kg of crustaceans in 2007 (6.04 kg/capita/year)(Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2007). Since seafood ingestion can cause severe acute hypersensitivity reactions and is recognized as one of the most common food allergies, the increased production and consumption of seafood has resulted in more frequent health problems (Lopata & Lehrer, 2009; Lopata et al., 2010). Exposure to seafood can cause a variety of health problems, including gastrointestinal disorders, urticaria, immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated asthma and anaphylaxis (Bang et al., 2005; Lopata & Lehrer, 2009; Malo & Cartier, 1993; Sicherer et al., 2004; Wild & Lehrer, 2005). A true allergy is known as type-one hypersensitivity that activates the human mast cells, a type of white blood cells, producing an IgE response as seen in Fig.
[Show full text]