Table 1. Common food allergy protein families ranked by number of identified allergens in each family.
| Family | Source | Rank by Number of Identified Family Members Associated with Food Allergy |
Rank by Number of Identified Family Members Associated with Aero/Contact Allergy |
Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prolamin superfamily | Plant | 1 | 4 | Includes cereal storage (gliadins), 2S albumin (eg, Arah 2/6), LTPs |
| Tropomyosin | Animal | 2 | 5 | Dominant crustacean allergen |
| Cupin superfamily | Plant | 3 | Rare; 1 described inhalant, 1 described contact |
Dominant family of legume and nut allergens |
| Profilin | Plant | 4 | 1 | Highly cross-reactive |
| EF-hand domain | Plant, animal | 5 | 2 | For ingestion, exclusively associated with fish, shellfish |
| PR-10 | Plant | 6 | 18 | Bet v 1 related |
| Alpha/beta-caseins | Animal, mammal | 7 | Not described | Milk allergens |
| Heveinlike domain | Plant | 8 | Latex allergy only | Includes some chitinases; latex, banana, avocado |
| Class I chitinases | Plant | 9 | Latex allergy only | Latex, banana, avocado (also chestnut, grape, corn) |
| Oleosins | Plant | 10 | Not described | ?Major sesame, minor peanut, hazelnut allergens |
| Lipocalin | Animal: arthropod and mammalian |
11 | 6 | Beta-lactoglobulin from milk in this family |
| Beta-1,3-glucanase | Plant | 12 | Latex (Hev b 2) olive tree pollen |
Described in tomato, potato, banana, bell pepper |
| Papainlike cysteine protease |
Plant | 13 | Der p 1, Der f 1 | Kiwi, pineapple, papaya (fairly rare) |
| Thaumatinlike protein |
Plant | 14 | Cedar/cypress pollen | Apple, cherry, grape, kiwi, pepper |
| Expansin, C-term | Plant: all grasses | Not described | 3 | Major allergens of grass pollen |
| Trypsinlike serine proteases |
Animal: arthropod and mammalian |
Not described | 9 | Bee and bumblebee sting, mite and roach inhalant |
| Enolase | Fungi and plants | Not described | 10 | — |
| Expansin, N-term | Plant: all grasses except 1 | Very low; 1 food allergen described from kiwi |
8 | — |
| Subtillsinlike serine protease |
Fungi (1 identified from bacteria) |
Very low; 1 food allergen described from musk melon |
7 | — |
Data from Radauer C, Bublin M, Wagner S, et al. Allergens are distributed into few protein families and possess a restricted number of biochemical functions. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2008;121(4):847–52.