Allergenicity of different apple cultivars assessed by means of skin prick test and sensitisation to recombinant allergens Mal d 1 and Mal d 3 in a group of Italian apple-allergic patients.

To evaluate differences in skin prick test response to apple cultivars in patients with apple allergy, 19 patients (10 adults and 9 children) underwent prick-to-prick skin prick test with eleven commercial and noncommercial apple cultivars, and evaluation of specific IgE to apple and recombinant apple allergens Mal d 1 and Mal d 3. The results show that different reactions might be evoked in a single patient by different apple cultivars and also separately for the peel and the pulp of a single cultivar. The cultivars were ranked according to their allergenicity level, being Jonathan, Jonagold, Golden Delicious and Fiesta the most allergenic when considering the pulp and Gala, Fiesta and Golden Delicious for the peel. Further investigations are needed to clarify if a single patient can be allergic only to well-defined apple cultivars and which allergometric tests are necessary to ascertain this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]