<i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines
Allergy is a widespread, often severe health problem. <i>In vivo</i> or <i>in vitro</i> identification of new allergenic proteins (natural or bioengineered) is time- and resource-consuming, and <i>in vivo</i> testing can be dangerous. Thus, allergenicity predictio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti
2010-10-01
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| Series: | Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti : Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1478/C1A1002006 |
| _version_ | 1811205832548810752 |
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| author | Fabrizio Guarneri |
| author_facet | Fabrizio Guarneri |
| author_sort | Fabrizio Guarneri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Allergy is a widespread, often severe health problem. <i>In vivo</i> or <i>in vitro</i> identification of new allergenic proteins (natural or bioengineered) is time- and resource-consuming, and <i>in vivo</i> testing can be dangerous. Thus, allergenicity prediction through computation (<i>in silico</i>) was proposed to narrow down the number of potential allergens to be tested with traditional methods. In 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) officially defined guidelines for <i>in silico</i> allergenicity prediction, based on amino acid sequence similarity to known allergens; these guidelines, however, have been criticized because of frequent false positives. In the present work, the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) software was used to compare known and potential allergens, and select only statistically significant homologies (i.e. homologies whose <i>E</i> value, calculated by BLAST, was < 1); FAO/WHO rules were then applied to these homologies. With this method, correct recognition of all known allergens, with only 10 false positives (1.26% of all predicted allergens) was achieved when using an upper limit of 0.1 for <i>E</i> values; complete suppression of wrong predictions, while maintaining 100% sensitivity, was obtained with little modifications of the minimum requirements contained in the FAO/WHO guidelines. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T03:37:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-871577136a0d4836bec23860e1943cb2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0365-0359 1825-1242 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T03:37:44Z |
| publishDate | 2010-10-01 |
| publisher | Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti : Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali |
| spelling | doaj.art-871577136a0d4836bec23860e1943cb22022-12-22T03:49:22ZengAccademia Peloritana dei PericolantiAtti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti : Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali0365-03591825-12422010-10-01LXXXVIII2C1A1002006<i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelinesFabrizio GuarneriAllergy is a widespread, often severe health problem. <i>In vivo</i> or <i>in vitro</i> identification of new allergenic proteins (natural or bioengineered) is time- and resource-consuming, and <i>in vivo</i> testing can be dangerous. Thus, allergenicity prediction through computation (<i>in silico</i>) was proposed to narrow down the number of potential allergens to be tested with traditional methods. In 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) officially defined guidelines for <i>in silico</i> allergenicity prediction, based on amino acid sequence similarity to known allergens; these guidelines, however, have been criticized because of frequent false positives. In the present work, the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) software was used to compare known and potential allergens, and select only statistically significant homologies (i.e. homologies whose <i>E</i> value, calculated by BLAST, was < 1); FAO/WHO rules were then applied to these homologies. With this method, correct recognition of all known allergens, with only 10 false positives (1.26% of all predicted allergens) was achieved when using an upper limit of 0.1 for <i>E</i> values; complete suppression of wrong predictions, while maintaining 100% sensitivity, was obtained with little modifications of the minimum requirements contained in the FAO/WHO guidelines.http://dx.doi.org/10.1478/C1A1002006Life Sciences |
| spellingShingle | Fabrizio Guarneri <i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti : Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali Life Sciences |
| title | <i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines |
| title_full | <i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines |
| title_fullStr | <i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines |
| title_full_unstemmed | <i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines |
| title_short | <i>In silico</i> allergen identification: Proposal for a revision of FAO/WHO guidelines |
| title_sort | i in silico i allergen identification proposal for a revision of fao who guidelines |
| topic | Life Sciences |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1478/C1A1002006 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fabrizioguarneri iinsilicoiallergenidentificationproposalforarevisionoffaowhoguidelines |