Corn is a major agricultural product produced in the United States; numerous food ingredients originate from corn. In spite of the wide-spread use of corn products, and the reported allergenicity to some corn-derived products, neither corn allergy nor corn allergies have been well investigated. The recent development of new food products through transgenic crops expressing corn proteins has added further urgency to the need for better characterized corn allergens. Corn may be an important food allergen, based on allergic subject's skin reactivity, IgE antibody responses, and histories of allergic reactions to corn and corn-derived products. Further, there are several reports of occupational allergic reactions to corn. The investigation of allergic reactions to corn or corn allergens is complicated by the fact that corn products pervade our food supply in the form of corn starch, corn syrup, and other corn-based substances. Interest in allergic reactions to corn has been heightened recently because corn as a major cereal grain crop may be an important source of genes for transgenic proteins in corn cereal grains. However, any attempts to identify or assess the allergenicity of these proteins is very difficult due to lack of documentation of corn-induced allergic reactions as well as the limited availability of sera from corn-allergic individuals. Therefore, this study is proposed to investigate and document corn allergy.
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