Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Research Article

Immunological Analysis of the Alternate Rubber Crop Taraxacum koksaghyz Indicates Multiple Proteins Cross-Reactive with Hevea brasiliensis Latex Allergens

¹Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State University, Wooster, USA

²Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, USA

³Akron Rubber Development Laboratory, Akron, OH 44305, USA

⁴College of Agriculture, Biotechnology AND# Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA

⁵Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA

Corresponding Author:

Katrina Cornish
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science
The Ohio State University
HCS and FABE, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster
Ohio 44691, USA
Tel: 330 263 3982
E-mail: cornish.19@osu.edu

Received date: October 08, 2015; Accepted date: November 17, 2015; Published date: November 24, 2015

Citation: Cornish K, Xie W, Kostyal D, Shintani D, Hamilton RG (2015) Immunological Analysis of the Alternate Rubber Crop Taraxacum kok-saghyz Indicates Multiple Proteins Cross-Reactive with Hevea brasiliensis Latex Allergens. J Biotechnol Biomater 5:207. doi:10.4172/2155-952X.1000207

Copyright: © 2015 Cornish K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The public health risk of Type I natural rubber latex allergy, caused by residual proteins in Hevea brasiliensis rubber latex (HNRL) products, has led to some medical examination and surgeon’s gloves and other health-related products being made from synthetic polymers. However, they are generally not preferred by healthcare providers due to their physical limitations. Guayule latex (GNRL), from an alternate rubber crop Parthenium argentatum, has been proven to contain none of the protein antigens present in H. brasiliensis natural rubber latex and its products. Guayule latex has also exhibited excellent film properties. Another alternate rubber crop, Taraxacum kok-saghyz, is now under commercial development, and internet reports assume that, like guayule, its latex derived rubber is free of proteins that are cross-reactive with HNRL specific IgE antibodies. Thus, the assumption is that it will not trigger allergic reactions in Type I HNR latex allergic individuals. Using ELISA and immunoblot methods, we have tested the reactivity of HNRL protein specific murine monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, rabbit polyclonal IgG antibodies and human IgE antibodies from clinically HNRL allergic individuals against T. kok-saghyz latex and its purified rubber particles. We demonstrate that T. kok-saghyz latex contains multiple HNRL cross-reactive proteins, which importantly react with HNRL latex specific human IgE antibodies from Type I latex allergic individuals. Exposure of HNRL allergic individuals to T. kok-saghyz latex may thus place them at risk for allergic reactions.

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