The isolation of allergens from the green pea.

The aqueous extract of green peas was separated into 3 fractions (albumin, legumin, and vicilin) by dialysis against distilled water and isoelectric precipitation. The major antigenic and all of the allergenic activity of the pea extract was associated with the albumin fraction. The albumin fraction retains its allergenicity upon heating at 60 degrees C for 30 min or boiling at 100 degrees C for 5 min, but becomes partially inactivated by autoclaving at 120 degrees C for 15 min. The allergenic determinant expressed by the albumin fraction appears to be common to several other members of the legume family. In addition, the pea dialysate fraction was shown to specifically inhibit precipitin and passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reactions involving rabbit antipea serum and the pea albumin fraction, and histamine release from passively sensitized monkey lung tissue using the serum of pea-sensitive patients.