Reference: PID2019-103845RB-C21
Funding Entity: Ministry of Science and Innovation
Principal Investigators: Mónica Carrera Mouriño/ Manuel Pazos Palmeiro (CSIC)
Duration: 01/06/2020 – 31/12/2022
Collaborator:
Summary:
Fish is one of the most frequent causes of immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated food allergy (Type I). Currently, there is no cure for fish allergy and sensitized individuals have to practice strict, life-long avoidance of fish products in their diets. Immunotherapeutic approaches directed to restore immune tolerance constitute a promising strategy for the treatment of food allergy. However, a major limitation that frustrates these developments is the lack of the mechanistic understanding of what makes a food protein an allergen, and the intracellular signaling of the immune system players, mainly in T-cells, controlling the tolerance/sensitization balance. Moreover, the nowadays increasing introduction of processed foods in our diet induces structural and chemical modifications of food proteins that potentially modulate their allergenicity. Using Proteomics and Structural-based Systems Biology approaches and Merluccius merluccius as sensitizing fish species model, SYS-ALLERGOMICS will 1) determine the protein structural requirements of sensitization of the main fish allergen protein (beta-Parvalbumin; beta-PRVB), 2) identify the signaling network defining T-cell activation in fish allergy for the different structural forms of the allergen (beta-PRVB), and 3) the establishement of the processes and strategies inactivating the allergenicity of fish products and development of hypoallergenic foods.
Associated research lines: Marine Immunotechnology.