Soy: allergenic properties of proteins and IgE cross-reactions

Abstract

Since the last century, European countries began to actively use soybean seeds as food additives or for the production of food products with 100% replacement of milk and animal proteins with soy. In Russia, soy is a relatively new agricultural crop, which recently began to be used in food production. Meanwhile, it is known that some proteins of soybeans have the pronounced allergenic properties. 8 soy proteins (Gly m 1 - Gly m 8) are classified by the World Health Organization as allergens capable of causing clinically significant IgE-mediated sensitization in patients with allergic diseases. Moreover, most of these allergens have been included in the WHO nomenclature over the past 15 years. In addition, there is scientific evidence for the presence of other soybean allergens that can bind to sIgE. It has also been shown that some soy allergens have homology in amino acid sequence and three-dimensional similarity to proteins of other plants and animals. In this regard, questions of IgE - cross-reactivity are becoming relevant. In this way, the purpose of this review is to analyze and summarize scientific data on the chemical structure, properties, allergenic activity of soy and soybean proteins (soybean seeds), their cross-reactions with proteins of animal and plant origin.