Bioanalytical characterization of proteins

Allergens from the view of a protein chemist are quite normal proteins, not to distinguish from non allergenic proteins. The first task is therefore to recognize and identify the proteins responsible for the allergenic reaction. This is usually only possible if the allergenic structure is conserved during the purification procedures. For a detailed analysis of the allergenic protein modem protein chemical methods for characterization, identification, determination of posttranslational modifications and epitope characterization have to be applied. Such techniques are briefly described in this article. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.