Antigenic Peptides of Ovalbumin Digested with Trypsin or Chymotrypsin

Abstract

Ovalbumin (OVA) is a major allergen of hen's egg white and often induces hypersensitivity in atopic children. Further knowledge of the antigenic and allergenic determinants of OVA will allow better treatment to be provided for this disease. We investigated the antigenic determinants of OVA by immunoblotting and a microsequence analysis. OVA was digested with trypsin or chymotrypsin, and the peptides were separated by tricine SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The antigenicity was tested by binding an anti-OVA rabbit IgG antibody with the peptides. Binding studies revealed that almost all bands of the tryptic peptides with MW of more than 5, 520 and almost all bands of the chymotryptic peptides with MW of more than 7, 280 were positive. It is proposed that a part of the antigenic determinant existed in the OVA sequence of 253-261 (or 264).