Methods: 17 patients allergic to chestnut were retrospectively evaluated between 2004 and 2014. The diagnosis was made by prick-prick, chestnut specific-IgE, and in all patients (except cases of anaphylaxis) oral challenge with chestnut. We measured the binding capacity of IgE in the unprocessed and processed extracts by thermal treatment (boiling and autoclave). Then we determined the effect of thermal and pressure processing over the binding capacity of IgE of each allergen by Inmunoblotting.
Results: We observe, in the majority of the serums, one or more bands in approximate 25 KD. They also appear in many of the samples, one of more bands of around 50 KD. Both disappear with the first boiling in many cases.
Conclusions: The different treatments significantly reduce the allergenic capacity of the proteins that appear in westerns of these patients. It does not seem that any treatment increases the allergenicity of the chestnut in these cases.