H. Alenius et al., SIGNIFICANCE OF RUBBER ELONGATION-FACTOR AS A LATEX ALLERGEN, International archives of allergy and immunology, 109(4), 1996, pp. 362-368
IgE-mediated hypersensitivity to proteins eluting from surgical gloves
and other natural rubber products is a well-recognized allergic condi
tion with special impact to health care workers and sensitized patient
s. Since rubber elongation factor (REF) has been suggested to be the m
ajor latex allergen (Hev b1) we purified REF from rubber particles usi
ng electrophoresis and electroelution and reevaluated the occurrence o
f IgE antibodies to purified REF. The purified protein was subjected t
o tryptic digestion, peptide separation and amino acid sequencing. Ami
no acid sequences of 9 tryptic peptides from the purified 14-kD protei
n gave 100% homology to REE In immunoblotting, sera from 4 of 6 latex-
allergic children with spina bifida or other congenital anomalies exhi
bited IgE antibodies against REF whereas only 1 serum from the 30 othe
r latex-allergic patients had similar antibodies. In IgE ELISA 8/45 (1
8%) latex-allergic patients had IgE antibodies to purified REF, wherea
s 30 (67%) of the same patients had IgE antibodies to purified proheve
in, another rubber protein, recently shown to be a major natural rubbe
r latex allergen. The observed overall low frequency of IgE antibodies
to purified REF, as measured by two specific IgE assays, indicates th
at REF is one but not the most significant allergen among the natural
rubber latex proteins.