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Cupressaceae pollen causes allergic reactions worldwide with long-lasting symptomatic periods. Currently, no cypress polcalcin is available for diagnostic purposes. With the aim to investigate the pattern of sensitization to a cypress polcalcin, a synthetic gene of Jun o 4, the Juniperus oxycedrus 4EF-hand polcalcin, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Its features were investigated in comparison with the grass 2EF-hand Phl p 7. Rhinitis was the symptom most frequently reported in a cohort of Italian patients sensitized to rJun o 4 and/or rPhl p 7. The detection of many pollen allergic patients sensitized to the cypress polcalcin, but negative to Phl p 7, indicates that Phl p 7 cannot be further considered a marker of sensitization towards all the polcalcins. A 4EF-hand cypress polcalcin claims the inclusion in allergy diagnostic tests. In addition, the sensitivity of polcalcins to gastrointestinal digestion is reported and discussed for the first time.

Few apple cultivars are widespread in the markets worldwide. The characterisation of cultivars available only in local markets could reveal fruits with sufficiently low amounts of allergens to be tolerated by at least some allergic subjects. This study was focused on the characterisation of 10 ancient and 2 widespread apple cultivars cultivated in Southern Italy. Pomological characterisation showed good sensory features and high manipulation resistance for most of the selected ancient cultivars. Individual patterns of allergenic components were obtained when IgE, IgG and IgG4 inhibition tests were performed on a multiplexed allergen microarray, using sera from allergic subjects as probes. Results obtained allow the selection of potentially hypo- or hyper-allergenic apple cultivars. In addition, this study describes a possible use of allergen microarray technology to quickly investigate the potential allergenicity of specific foods that, after additional tests, can be considered for the inclusion in the diet of individual allergic subjects.