Method for the production of hydrolyzed allergens

1. A method for the production of hydrolyzed allergens from allergens comprising the steps of:

a) extracting a source of allergens comprising allergenic proteins to form an extract,

b) purifying the extract to remove non-protein components to form a purified extract,

c) denaturing the purified extract with a first denaturing agent at a pH of 7.0 to 11.0 to form a purified denatured extract,

d) refining the purified denatured extract to remove impurities to form a refined denatured extract,

e) denaturing the refined denatured extract with a second denaturing agent at a pH of 1.0 to 7.0 to form denatured allergen mixture,

f) hydrolyzing the denatured allergen mixture to form the hydrolyzed allergens, and

g) purifying the hydrolyzed allergens to remove peptides with molecular weights above 10,000 Da and below 1,000 Da, wherein 70% or more of the peptides are between 10,000 Da and 1,000 Da; wherein the first denaturing agent is a mixture of a chaotropic agent and a reducing agent and wherein the second denaturing agent is a mixture of a chaotropic agent and a reducing agent.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting is performed in a solution comprising no salt or a salt selected from carbonate, bicarbonate, phosphate, acetate, TRIS and HEPES, wherein extracting is performed with an extraction medium.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the purifying and/or refining comprises one or more of an ion exchange chromatography step, a gel filtration or size exclusion chromatography step, a hydrophobic interaction chromatography step, a pseudo affinity or affinity chromatography step.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second denaturating agent comprises urea at a concentration of more than 4 M, and guanidinium chloride at a concentration above 3 M.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein hydrolyzing is performed with an enzyme.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the removal of the peptides is performed by size exclusion chromatography and/or by ultrafiltration, wherein the size exclusion chromatography is performed in the presence of chaotropic agents.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sources of allergens are peanuts.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein denaturing is performed with a denaturing agent selected from the group of urea, guanidinium chloride, dithiotreitol, thiglycerol, β-mercaptoethanol, tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP), and mixtures thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein

extracting is performed in a solution comprising phosphate,

purifying or refining includes a precipitation step,

the precipitation step is performed with a solution comprising trichloroacetic acid,

denaturing is performed with a combination of urea and dithiotreitol,

the hydrolyzing is performed with pepsin,

the removal is performed by size exclusion chromatography in the presence of chaotropic agents, and

the source of allergens are peanuts from Arachis hypogaea.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second denaturing agent is tris(2-carboxyethyl)-phosphine (TCEP).

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the hydrolyzing is performed in the presence of a chaotropic agent and a reducing reagent.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the source of allergens is a mixture of at least two species/subspecies/varieties/hybrids and/or transgenic peanuts.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the peanuts are selected from the Arachis genus.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the peanuts selected from the Arachanis genus are hypogaea or fastigiata.