Specific IgE levels to Cicer arietinum (chick pea) in tolerant and nontolerant children: Evaluation of boiled and raw extracts

The chick pea, Cicer arietinum, is a legume commonly consumed in Spain and other Mediterranean countries. The sera of 29 children (mean age: 8.4 years ) with a current or past history of allergic reactions after ingestion of c hick pea, and positive skin tests to this legume, were used to study the al lergenic composition of raw and boiled chick pea extracts. The patient popu lation was divided into 2 groups: group 1 consisted of 19 patients with cli nical sensitivity confirmed by either positive oral challenges or a convinc ing recent history of anaphylaxis after eating chick peas, and group 2 cons isted of 10 patients with clinical sensitivity in the past, but tolerant at the time of blood extraction. Six atopic children, not allergic to legumes , were included as controls. Specific IgE to the raw and boiled extracts wa s measured by ELISA. The allergenic composition of both extracts was analyz ed by SDS-PAGE and immunoblots. There were no significant differences betwe en specific IgE levels to the raw and boiled extracts (p = 0.23). The mean levels in group 1 were significantly higher than in group 2 and controls (p = 0.0001). Multiple IgE binding proteins/peptides were detected in both ex tracts in the molecular weight range of 10-106 kD. Only nontolerant patient s recognized a similar number of bands in both extracts. Chick pea extracts contain a majority of heat-stable allergens, which could be responsible fo r the clinical sensitivity to chick pea. Patients with a current clinical a llergy to chick pea have statistically higher specific IgE levels than tole rant patients and controls. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.