Fucodendropeptides induce changes in cells of the immune system in food allergic patients via DC-SIGN receptor

Abstract

Food allergy induced by lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) of Rosacea fruit family, such as peach, is becoming an important health problem in the Mediterranean area. Current treatments, such as allergen specific immunotherapy (AIT) with allergenic extracts show promising, but in many cases, they need an improvement in homogeneity, availability and induction of tolerant responses. Peptide-based vaccines containing adjuvants, such as carbohydrates for C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) are presented as an alternative approach. In this work, we have prepared fucosylated glycodendropeptides (GDPs) functionalized with Pru p 3 peptides via click chemistry. These GDPs, D_nFuc₉Prup3, induced changes in moDC maturation and lymphocyte proliferation in food allergic patients, indicating specific recognition via DC-SIGN receptor. From these data, D₄Fuc₉Prup3 can be considered a promising candidate for specific immunotherapy development.

Keywords: Click chemistry; DC-SIGN; Fucose; Glycodendrimer; Glycodendropeptide; Pru p 3.