Chemistry of Allergens

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Abstract
Twelve new antigens previously have been demonstrated in the pepsin digests of milk proteins. The term ‘new antigen’ is defined as an antigen with a specificity distinct from that of the protein from which it was generated. Three new antigenic (α-, β-, and D2i) polypeptides and one nonantigenic γ-polypeptide have been isolated from the dialysates of six successive pepsin hydrolyses of β-lactoglobulin. The α- and β-ρolypeptídes were 1/5 and D2i was 1/10–1/20 as potent immunogens as precursor β-lactoglobulin as determined by the Schultz-Dale technique. The minimum observed amounts of new antigen eliciting maximum response of uterine strips in the Schultz-Dale tests were: α-D2, 50 ng; β-D2, 15 ng; β-D3, 10 ng; and D2i, 1,000 ng. Except for the α-polypeptide, the amino acid contents of the polypeptides differed markedly from that of β-lactoglobulin. The β-polypeptide has been tentatively identified as a 33 amino acid fragment of β-lactoglobulin (3,910 daltons). The γ-polypeptide has been tentatively identified as a 12 amino acid fragment of β-lactoglobulin (1,372 daltons).
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