> > Any REAL biochemists on this list?  Anybody know how long a peptide
> > has to be before it can conceivably be an allergen?
>
> Well, I was, before I became an MD.... and the standard teaching is that a
> peptide chain of fewer than 4 or 5 is too small to be a hapten.
>
> Well, I guess 4 or 5 molecules would be too small to be an EFFECTIVE
> hatpin... have to be a reeeeely tiny hat, I guess...

Sorry... I drift into geekspeak every now and then. A hapten is a fragment
which, when properly processed by the body, can trigger an allergic response.
This is in contradistinction to an allergen, which can trigger the response
without being processed by a white blood cell first.

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Avraham haRofeh
mka Randy Goldberg MD