Jörg Nerkamp

Mutational epitope analysis of Pru av 1 and Api g 1, the major allergens of cherry (Prunus avium) and celery (Apium graveolens): correlating IgE reactivity with three-dimensional structure.

Birch pollinosis is often accompanied by adverse reactions to food due to pollen-allergen specific IgE cross-reacting with homologous food allergens. The tertiary structure of Pru av 1, the major cherry (Prunus avium) allergen, for example, is nearly identical with Bet v 1, the major birch (Betula verrucosa) pollen allergen. In order to define cross-reactive IgE epitopes, we generated and analysed mutants of Pru av 1 and Api g 1.0101, the major celery (Apium graveolens) allergen, by immunoblotting, EAST (enzyme allergosorbent test), CD and NMR spectroscopy. The mutation of Glu45 to Trp45 in the P-loop region, a known IgE epitope of Bet v 1, significantly reduced IgE binding to Pru av 1 in a subgroup of cherry-allergic patients. The backbone conformation of Pru av 1 wild-type is conserved in the three-dimensional structure of Pru av 1 Trp45, demonstrating that the side chain of Glu45 is involved in a cross-reactive IgE epitope. Accordingly, for a subgroup of celery-allergic patients, IgE binding to the homologous celery allergen Api g 1.0101 was enhanced by the mutation of Lys44 to Glu. The almost complete loss of IgE reactivity to the Pru av 1 Pro112 mutant is due to disruption of its tertiary structure. Neither the mutation Ala112 nor deletion of the C-terminal residues 155-159 influenced IgE binding to Pru av 1. In conclusion, the structure of the P-loop partially explains the cross-reactivity pattern, and modulation of IgE-binding by site-directed mutagenesis is a promising approach to develop hypo-allergenic variants for patient-tailored specific immunotherapy.

Maillard reaction and enzymatic browning affect the allergenicity of Pru av 1, the major allergen from cherry (Prunus avium).

The influence of thermal processing and nonenymatic as well as polyphenoloxidase-catalyzed browning reaction on the allergenicity of the major cherry allergen Pru av 1 was investigated. After thermal treatment of the recombinant protein rPru av 1 in the absence or presence of carbohydrates, SDS-PAGE, enzyme allergosorbent tests, and inhibition assays revealed that thermal treatment of rPru av 1 alone did not show any influence on the IgE-binding activity of the protein at least for 30 min, thus correlating well with the refolding of the allergen in buffer solution as demonstrated by CD spectroscopic experiments. Incubation of the protein with starch and maltose also showed no effect on IgE-binding activity, whereas reaction with glucose and ribose and, even more pronounced, with the carbohydrate breakdown products glyceraldehyde and glyoxal induced a strong decrease of the IgE-binding capacity of rPru av 1. In the second part of the study, the effect of polyphenoloxidase-catalyzed oxidation of polyphenols on food allergen activity was investigated. Incubation of rPru av 1 with epicatechin in the presence of tyrosinase led to a drastic decrease in IgE-binding activity of the protein. Variations of the phenolic compound revealed caffeic acid and epicatechin as the most active inhibitors of the IgE-binding activity of rPru av 1, followed by catechin and gallic acid, and, finally, by quercetin and rutin, showing significantly lower activity. On the basis of these data, reactive intermediates formed during thermal carbohydrate degradation as well as during enzymatic polyphenol oxidation are suggested as the active chemical species responsible for modifying nucleophilic amino acid side chains of proteins, thus inducing an irreversible change in the tertiary structure of the protein and resulting in a loss of conformational epitopes of the allergen.

NMR Spectroscopy Reveals Common Structural Features of the Birch Pollen Allergen Bet v 1 and the cherry allergen Pru a 1

A high percentage of birch pollen allergic patients also experience food hypersensitivity which results from common epitopes on the corresponding allergens. In order to analyze whether this observed cross-reactivity can be attributed to common structural features, the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1 and the cherry allergen Pru a 1 were investigated by multidimensional heteronuclear nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. For the 17 kDa Bet v 1 a three-dimensional structure was calculated on the basis of 1344 experimental restraints. The structure is well defined showing average root mean square deviations of 0.67 and 1.15 Å for the backbone heavy atoms and all heavy atoms of residues 1–154, respectively. The major structural features include a seven-stranded antiparallel β-sheet that wraps around a long C-terminal α-helix, thereby forming a large cavity in the interior of the protein. This structure served as template for the generation of an NMR-based model of Pru a 1 by homology modelling in conjunction with 277 experimentally derived distance restraints. Comparison to the structure of Bet v 1 proves both structures to be highly similar concerning the elements of secondary structure as well as the shape and charge distribution of the protein surface. This finding is consistent with the observed cross-reactivity between both proteins and allows the delineation of common cross-reactive B-cell epitopes.

Novel Ubiquitin-derived High Affinity Binding Proteins with Tumor Targeting Properties*

Background: Targeting molecules to tumor cells is a promising mode of action for cancer therapy. Results: Ubiquitin-based high affinity, specific, and stable binding molecules for extradomain B are accumulated in the tumor. Conclusion: Ubiquitin may be engineered for high affinity target binding and modified with half-life extension technologies. Significance: Ubiquitin qualifies as a well suited scaffold protein adaptable to specific tasks. Targeting effector molecules to tumor cells is a promising mode of action for cancer therapy and diagnostics. Binding proteins with high affinity and specificity for a tumor target that carry effector molecules such as toxins, cytokines, or radiolabels to their intended site of action are required for these applications. In order to yield high tumor accumulation while maintaining low levels in healthy tissues and blood, the half-life of such conjugates needs to be in an optimal range. Scaffold-based binding molecules are small proteins with high affinity and short systemic circulation. Due to their low molecular complexity, they are well suited for combination with effector molecules as well as half-life extension technologies yielding therapeutics with half-lives adapted to the specific therapy. We have identified ubiquitin as an ideal scaffold protein due to its outstanding biophysical and biochemical properties. Based on a dimeric ubiquitin library, high affinity and specific binding molecules, so-called Affilin® molecules, have been selected against the extradomain B of fibronectin, a target almost exclusively expressed in tumor tissues. Extradomain B-binding molecules feature high thermal and serum stability as well as strong in vitro target binding and in vivo tumor accumulation. Application of several half-life extension technologies results in molecules of largely unaffected affinity but significantly prolonged in vivo half-life and tumor retention. Our results demonstrate the utility of ubiquitin as a scaffold for the generation of high affinity binders in a modular fashion, which can be combined with effector molecules and half-life extension technologies.

Letter to the Editor: Sequence-specific 1H, 13C and 15N resonance assignments of the major cherry allergen Pru a 1

Key words: heteronuclear NMR, major cherry allergen, pathogenesis-related protein, sequence-specific resonanceassignmentBiological contextIn industrialized countries about 2–4% of the adultpopulation suffer from IgE-mediated allergies againstfoodstuff (Vieths, 1997). Food hypersensitivity oftenco-occurswith birchpollinosis, and upto 70%ofbirchpollen allergic patients show allergic reactions afterconsumption of fresh fruit or vegetables. Allergic re-actions against pollen lead to clinical syndromes likehay fever, asthma and dermatitis; after ingestion offoodstuff allergic reactions are most often located inthe oropharynx and include from itching and swellingof lips, tongue and throat, to anaphylactic shock.On the molecular level pollen-related food aller-gies can be explained by the cross-reaction of foodallergens with pollen-specific IgE-antibodies, consis-tent with a high sequence similarity of food and pollenallergens. The major birch (Betula verrucosa) pollenallergen Bet v 1 and Pru a 1, the major cherry (Prunusavium) allergen, have a sequence identity of nearly60%. Both are produced as 160-residue precursorproteins that are processed by cleavage of the NH