Detection and inactivation of allergens in soybeans: A brief review of recent research advances

In the last decade, soybean allergies have been on the increases to such an extent that they have now become a public health issue thus prompting more studies and researches on the topic. The allergenicity of soybean is attributed to its protein fraction. The best way to prevent hypersensitive patients from ingesting allergenic compounds is to exclude such soybean allergens from their diet. As a result, it is essential to provide detailed and reliable knowledge of food ingredients. Therefore, precise and reliable approaches for detecting soybean allergens found in various food products must be used. The main way to reduce allergy risk is the identification of allergenic sites in food and their inactivation by various food-processing methods. It has been reported that food processing may lead to the modification of conformational structure of the protein or protein distortion that inhibit the binding of immunoglobulin E (IgE) to epitopes on food allergens and also the mechanism of allergic reactions. Food processing technologies employed for inactivating allergenic epitopes used thermal and nonthermal techniques. Currently, several detection methods including protein-based and DNA-based approaches using analytical techniques such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), enzyme allergosorbent test (EAST), radioallergosorbent test (RAST), lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), immunoblotting, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), mass spectrometry and biosensors have been improved for identifying and quantifying these epitopes. This research focused on allergenic proteins of soybean, the most modern approaches for detecting and quantifying these allergens, and finally, the various methods used to inactivate these proteins and their effects on soy allergenicity.