Ara h2 Aptamer

Novel Application of DNA Aptamers In Agricultural Treatment –  New Strategy for Peanut Allergen Processing

Exposure to peanuts can occur in various ways:

Direct contact. The most common cause of peanut allergy is eating peanuts or peanut-containing foods. Sometimes direct skin contact with peanuts can trigger an allergic reaction.
Cross-contact. This is the unintended introduction of peanuts into a product. It’s generally the result of a food being exposed to peanuts during processing or handling.
Inhalation. An allergic reaction may occur if you inhale dust or aerosols containing peanuts, from a source such as peanut flour or peanut oil cooking spray.

As of 2022, there is no cure for peanut allergy other than strict avoidance of peanuts and peanut-containing foods.

Peanut Allergies

Peanut allergy has been one of the fastest growing and deadliest allergies in recent history. It is responsible for more deaths from anaphylaxis than any other food allergy, with rates in children that have more than tripled in the United States in the recent years.
Peanut allergies are present in the U.S. at higher rates as compared to other developed nations with more than 20% of adult Americans having reported peanut allergy.

Aptamers known as chemical antibodies, are single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides. Because of their high specificity, sensitivity, binding affinity, and feasible alteration to the target molecule, aptamers have been deployed in many fields in medicine and agriculture.
Aptamers can be a great technology for the food and agriculture industry where they can make agriculture more sustainable.

Ara-H2 Peanut Allergen Specific Aptamer

The Aptamers developed by Ayass BioScience, LLC are able bind to peanut allergen Ara-H2 that is purified or found in crude peanut extract. They can be used in targeted modification of peanut products to Remove/Conceal the allergen directly from food, resulting in the prevention of severe allergic reaction.

Modification of the Peanut to Remove/Conceal Allergen

  1. Our Aptamers are specific to Ara-H2 and bind to Ara-H2 with high affinity and specificity.
  2. Our Aptamers are thermally stable.
  3. Our Aptamers can be rapidly synthesized in large quantities at a low production cost.
  4. Our Ara-H2 specific Aptamers mitigate Ara-H2-IgE mediated degranulation from RBL-2H3, rat basophilic leukemia cell line.
  5. Of note, our Ara-H2-specific aptamers diminish crude (unprocessed) peanut induced degranulation.
  6. Our Aptamers, after short as well as long time incubation with crude peanut, remain stable and mitigate degranulation induced by crude peanut from RBL-2H3 cell line.

Our preliminary data indicate that our Ara-H2-specific Aptamers might be a future target for promising Peanut Allergen crop treatment and processing specifically, but the same application can be implemented with other allergens.