Apples without allergens

Apple allergy is dominated by IgE antibodies against Mal d 1 in areas where birch pollen is endemic. Apples with significantly decreased levels of Mal d 1 would allow most patients in these areas to eat apples without allergic reactions.

In vitro-grown apple plantlets were transformed with a construct coding for an intron-spliced hairpin RNA containing a Mal d 1-specific inverted repeat sequence separated by a Mal d 1-specific intron sequence.

Mal d 1 expression was successfully reduced by hairpinRNAi. This translated into significantly reduced in vivo allergenicity. These observations support the feasibility of the production by gene silencing of apples hypoallergenic for Mal d 1.

(Gilissen et al., 2005, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 115: 364-369)