ALLERDET[1] is a web-based application developed for the prediction of protein allergenicity using machine learning techniques. It was introduced by Francisco M. García-Moreno and Miguel A. Gutiérrez-Naranjo in 2022. ALLERDET combines sequence alignment methods with deep learning models to achieve high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in predicting food allergens.

Background

edit

Allergic diseases are increasingly prevalent worldwide, particularly food allergies. The development of genetically modified crops has introduced new proteins into the human diet, raising concerns about potential allergens. Traditional methods for detecting allergens, such as the decision-tree schema recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), rely on sequence similarity, but they are often imprecise in terms of sensitivity and specificity.

Features

edit

ALLERDET uses pairwise sequence alignment with the FASTA algorithm for feature extraction. It then employs deep learning techniques, particularly Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM), combined with decision trees to classify proteins as allergenic or non-allergenic. The model was trained using a large dataset of known allergens and non-allergens, achieving a balanced performance of over 98% in sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.

Comparisons with Other Tools

edit

Several other allergen prediction tools exist, including:

  • AllerCatPro: Achieves 84% accuracy in allergen prediction based on amino acid sequences and 3D protein structures.
  • AllergenFP: Reaches 88% accuracy but struggles with balancing sensitivity and specificity.
  • AllerTOP: Achieves 94% sensitivity but does not exceed 90% accuracy overall.
  • AlgPred: Another well-known tool with lower performance metrics compared to ALLERDET.

Public Availability

edit

The tool is publicly available for researchers and can be accessed via ALLERDET: http://allerdet.frangam.com/. It is designed to assist in the identification of food allergens, contributing to food safety and allergen research.

References

edit
  1. ^ Garcia-Moreno, Francisco M.; Gutiérrez-Naranjo, Miguel A. (2022-11-01). "ALLERDET: A novel web app for prediction of protein allergenicity". Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 135: 104217. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2022.104217. ISSN 1532-0464. PMID 36244612.