Wheat as an allergenBaker´s asthma food and wheat pollen allergy

Resumen

Food incompatibilities affect approximately 20% of the populationand can be caused by allergy. Many plant proteins act as sensitizingagents in humans upon repeated exposure. Wheat is a prominentallergen source and is one of the causes of baker’s asthma, food andpollen allergy. On the basis of differential solubility, wheat grainproteins have been classified as salt-soluble albumins and glutenfraction or prolamins, which include gliadins and glutenins. Bothproteins sources have been implicated in the development of wheathypersensitivity.During the past years we have purified and characterized severalproteins from wheat, barley and rye, which are associated with flourallergy. These allergens have a potential role as a biological defenseagainst the insect infestation of the grain. Until recently gluten intolerance has been has been considered to betypical of celiac disease and wheat allergy. In the last the last fewyears, new digestive syndromes has been described. A new syndromehas been named non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and eosinophilicesophagitis can be also due to wheat ingestion.The introduction of microarray techniques featuring a large panel ofpurified allergens has been a major advance in the diagnosis of allergicdiseases. However, this technique has been hardly applied to thediagnosis and characterization of patients with occupational asthmadue to wheat allergy. Here, we described these investigations, the most importantpathologies associated with wheat, their prevention and treatment.