Evaluating allergenicity of protein fragments and peptides in partially hydrolysed infant formulas available in Hong Kong

Partially hydrolysed infant formula (pHF) is designed as a cow's milk substitute for the infants with cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) and consuming pHFs for preventing allergenic diseases is still under debate. Possibly, differences in protein fragment and peptide profiles among different brands of pHFs are the key confounder in the cohort studies. Thus, top-down and bottom-up proteomic analysis were conducted to identify the profiles of 4 brands of pHFs available in Hong Kong. Subsequently, allergenicities of the profiles were evaluated in silico. The analysis revealed that pHF-A and pHF-B contains large allergenic fragments of β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin with molecular weights over 14 kDa. Most of peptides in pHF-D were less than 2 kDa and considered as non-allergenic. As the allergenicities varies a lot among different brands of pHFs in Hong Kong, so people need to be well informed before consuming for better managements of CMPA.