Wild rice, hypoallergenic rice—Immunologic comparison

Rice is a cereal that is mainly produced and widely consumed in Asian countries including Korea. Several reports have suggested a role of IgE-mediated hypersensitivity in asthma and eczema associated with ingestion or inhalation of rice. In Japan, hypoallergenic rices are used for a substitute of common rice in some atopic patients. We performed this study to identify major allergens of rice and changed allergenicity in cooked and hypoallergenic rice. We purified crude extracts from a variety of rice and analyzed their protein distributions by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Based on UniCAP test and skin-prick test, we selected sera with high sensitivity and analyzed specific IgE binding to rice by immunoblotting. In addition, the inhibition rate among some rice was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and CAP test. As the result of this study, rice with various origins and polishing levels had no difference in protein band pattern. After cooking, it was difficult to detect protein bands distributed in raw rice; and, even through IgE immunoblot analysis, it was impossible to differentiate between wild and hypoallergenic rice. In addition, both wild and hypoallergenic rice still had IgE binding activity on their remaining protein bands. In conclusion, almost all proteins of rice were excluded or weakened in the process of boiling and IgE binding activity still remained even in hypoallergenic rice.