Preparation and immunological characterization of ß-lactoglobulin-amylose conjugate.

ß-Lactoglobulin (BLG), a major allergen of cow's milk, was conjugated with the N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of the amylose-glycylglycine adduct (AG-ONSu) to reduce its immunogenicity, and the biochemical and immunological properties of the resulting conjugate (AG-BLG) were studied. The conjugate was prepared by modifying BLG with AG-ONSu, and was purified in a Sephadex G-100 column. The analytical data for AG-BLG indicated that 10.5 moles of AG-ONSu, with a mean molecular weight of 2,800, was covalently attached to the amino groups of the BLG molecule. Conjugation with AG-ONSu greatly decreased the reactivity of BLG with anti-BLG polyclonal antibodies owing to its shielding action for epitopes on the protein's surface. These findings suggest that AG-ONSu can be used advantageously to suppress the hypersensitivity mediated by IgG antibodies in milk allergy.

Reduction of the immunogenicity of beta-lactoglobulin from cow's milk by conjugation with a dextran derivative.

Beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) was conjugated with the N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of the dextran-glycylglycine adduct (DG-ONSu) to reduce the immunogenicity of BLG, a major allergen of cow's milk, and some immunological properties of the conjugate (DG-BLG) were studied. The conjugate was prepared by modifying BLG with DG-ONSu and purified in a Sephadex G-100 column. The analytical data for DG-BLG indicated that 5.2 moles of DG-ONSu with a mean molecular weight of 9,300 were covalently attached to the amino groups of the BLG molecule. Conjugation with DG-ONSu greatly decreased the reactivity of BLG with anti-BLG antibodies and suppressed their production in vivo due to its shielding action for epitope(s) on the protein's molecular surface. It was also found that DG-BLG was resistant to proteolytic enzymes. These findings allow us to suggest that DG-ONSu could be advantageously used to suppress the hypersensitivity mediated by IgG antibodies in milk allergy.