The effect of treatments on the allergenicity of ß-lactoglobulin in Moroccan population

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the effect of heating and pepsin hydrolysis on the allergenicity of purified cow’s milk ß-lactoglobulin using individual sera from Moroccan population. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study was carried out in Hospitals of Fez-Meknes region, to evaluate specific IgE to raw cow milk, as well as to heated and pepsin-hydrolyzed β-lactoglobulin. Findings Results showed that 6.6 per cent of studied patients presented high values of serial IgE. The effect of treatments on the allergenicity of ß-lactoglobulin showed that heating at 90°C and pepsin hydrolysis, for 1 h each, showed an important decrease in the recognition of human IgE with a maximum of reduction of 81 and 91 per cent, respectively. Originality/value This reduction of immunoreactivity of human IgE to treated ß-lactoglobulin suggested that this Moroccan population recognized mostly conformational epitopes.