Occupational Asthma Caused by Serratial Peptidase and Lysozyme Chloride in a Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

There have been very few documented cases of occupational allergies caused by serratial lysozyme and peptidase. In this paper, we report a case of occupational asthma and rhinitis caused by Serratia( peptidase and lysozyme chloride which are used as anti-inflammatory agents. The patient had strong positive responses to peptidase and lysozyme extracts on skin-prick tests. Bronchoprovocation tests showed a dual asthmatic response to peptidase but only an early asthmatic response to lysozyme. Serum specific IgE antibodies to peptidase and lysozyme were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In order to further characterize the allergenic component of these extracts, sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and electroblotting studies were also performed. Two IgE binding components (67, 10.9 kDa) were detected within the lysozyme extracts, and more than ten components ranging from 7.3 to 83.1 kDa found in peptidase extracts. The findings suggest that inhalation of peptidase and lysozyme can induce IgE-mediated bronchoconstriction in an exposed worker.