A general strategy for the generation of hypoallergenic molecules for the immunotherapy of fish allergy

Parvalbumin, a small calcium-binding protein, which is extremely resistant to heat and digestion, represents the major fish allergen. Because of the high degree of sequence homologies and cross-reactivities between parvalbumins from different fish species, consumption of various fish species leads to clinical symptoms in fish-allergic patients.3 Several immunotherapy trials investigating the applicability of recombinant hypoallergenic vaccines are currently ongoing, and the clinical immunotherapy studies for birch pollen in particular indicate that recombinant allergen-based specific immunotherapy is a promising concept for the effective and safe treatment of respiratory allergy.4 Specific immunotherapy is less frequently used for the treatment of food allergies because fewer standardized allergen extracts are available and the risk of inducing severe anaphylactic reactions is high.