Skin prick test analysis reveals cross-sensitization to tomato profilin and grass pollen in nasobronchialallergic patients with history of tomato food allergy

The association between grass pollen sensitization and food allergy to tomato is of great interest. We report here, the first such study in Indian population. We investigated 246 allergic rhinitis/asthma patients by diagnostic case history and skin prick test (SPT); grass pollen mix, tomato extract and purified tomato profilin were used for SPT. Tomato profilin was purified by affinity chromatography, and analyzed by HPLC (95% purity) and SDS-PAGE (14 kDa). We observed that 38% of the patients had sensitization to both grass pollen and tomato fruit, of which 92% were sensitized to tomato profilin. Among patients with a history of food allergy to tomato fruit, the association was more pronounced (66%). Tomato profilin appears to be an important cross-sensitizing panallergen in respiratory allergic patients in the Indian subcontinent.