Abstract
Background: Among the casein components, αs-casein (αs-CAS) is considered the major allergen in Japan, and there are very few reports on the allergenicity of β-casein (β-CAS). In this study, we compared the allergenicity of β-CAS with that of αs-CAS in Japanese children with cow milk allergy (CMA). Method: The allergenicity of αs-CAS and β-CAS in 29 CMA patients and 11 control subjects was assessed using the basophil activation test (BAT). The accuracy of the BAT to distinguish the patients with CMA from the control subjects was estimated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and was expressed as the area under the curve (AUC). Results: BAT results for CM were positive in 93.1% of the CMA patients. The results of the β-CAS-BAT and αs-CAS-BAT were found to be positive in 86.2% and 69.0% of the CMA patients, respectively, however, the difference was not significant. The AUC for the β-CAS-BAT was 0.893, which was not significantly different from that for the αs-CAS-BAT (0.859). Conclusions: These results suggest that the allergenicities of β-CAS and αs-CAS are similar in Japanese patients with CMA.
