Approaches to Assessing Potential Food Allergy from Genetically Engineered Plants

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is issuing this request for applications (RFA) for applied research on innovative or improved methods to predict whether or not a pesticide protein is a food allergen. Research to characterize the key factors that influence human immune responses to dietary proteins is needed in order to better assess potential food allergy from genetically engineered plants. Proposals are requested on the role of dose, route of sensitization, and/or the physicochemical properties of ingested proteins and their influence on the development of immune sensitization, oral tolerance, or the elicitation of allergic symptoms. Also of interest is how the food matrix and gastrointestinal environment in which proteins are ingested may affect these immune responses. The overall aim of the research program is to improve safety assessment for genetically engineered plants by enhancing the ability to estimate the potency of unknown proteins relative to known allergenic and non-allergenic proteins. Because there is no single, definitive test for determining the allergenic potential of novel pesticide proteins in the diet, risk assessment associated with the regulation of foods derived from modern biotechnology currently uses a “weight-of-evidence” approach. The research will contribute to improved methods for assessing the potential dietary allergenicity of pesticide proteins in genetically engineered plants.

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