Limited Lactosylation of Beta-Lactoglobulin from Cow’s Milk Exerts Strong Influence on Antigenicity and Degranulation of Mast Cells

Background: beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is one of the major cow’s milk proteins and the most abundant allergen in whey. Heating is a common technologic treatment applied during milk transformational processes. Maillardation of BLG in the presence of reducing sugars and elevated temperatures may influence its antigenicity and allergenicity. Primary objective: to analyze and identify lactosylation sites by capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE-MS). Secondary objective: to assess the effect of lactosylated BLG on antigenicity and degranulation of mast cells. Methods: BLG was lactosylated at pH 7, a water activity (aw) of 0.43, and a temperature of 65 °C using a molar ratio BLG:lactose of 1:1 by incubating for 0, 3, 8, 16 or 24 h. For the determination of the effect on antibody-binding capacity of lactosylated BLG, an ELISA was performed. For the assessment of degranulation of the cell-line RBL-heIa-2B12 transfected with the human α-chain, Fce receptor type 1 (FceRI) was used. Results: BLG showed saturated lactosylation between 8 and 16 incubation hours in our experimental setup. Initial stage lactosylation sites L1 (N-terminus)—K47, K60, K75, K77, K91, K138 and K141—have been identified using CE-MS. Lactosylated BLG showed a significant reduction of both the IgG binding (p = 0.0001) as well as degranulation of anti-BLG IgE-sensitized RBL-heIa-2B12 cells (p < 0.0001). Conclusions and clinical relevance: this study shows that lactosylation of BLG decreases both the antigenicity and degranulation of mast cells and can therefore be a promising approach for reducing allergenicity of cow’s milk allergens provided that the process is well-controlled.