Team:Linkoping Sweden/Project/Culprit

Five proteins are associated with clinical reactions in peanut allergy: Ara h 1, Ara h 2, Ara h 3, Ara h 8 och Ara h 9. Ara h 2 is the major allergen and present in persons with severe reactions. Ara h 2 is a member of the conglutin family of seed storage proteins. It shows high sequence homology to proteins of the 2S albumin family and exists as a single polypeptide chain. The protein consists of 160 amino acids and is heat resistant, possibly due to the large number of disulfide bridges amongst the Ara h proteins.

As mentioned previously, symptoms of a peanut allergic reaction result from an antibody present in the body, immunoglobin E (IgE). The immune system of an allergic individual mistakenly targets peanut proteins as an immunological threat and over-generates IgE. IgE in turn releases histamine from mast cells, which creates the symptoms of an allergic reaction. The symptoms affect a broad range of systems in the body: respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems, along with a number of atypical symptoms.