PMID: 1201257Nov 1, 1975Paper

Occupational asthma after inhalation of dust of the proteolytic enzyme, papain

British Journal of Industrial Medicine
J Milne, S Brand

Abstract

Papain is a proteolytic enzyme widely used by biochemists. In experiments on animals papain has been shown to cause emphysema either when they inhaled a single small dose or after intratracheal inhalation. Four food technologists were occupationally exposed to heavy concentrations of papain dust in air. Subjects 1 and 2 developed an immediate acute asthmatic reaction, and symptoms of obstructive airways disease persisted for some months while each remained in the same working area, presumably exposed to small gradually diminishing amounts of residual papain dust. Tests of respiratory function were carried out on all four subjects 1 1/2 years later and showed in subjects 1 and 3 minimal abnormality of bronchial reactivity and of ventilation distribution. Review of the literature reveals only two reports of asthma resulting from papain inhalation, although its antigenic and skin sensitizing qualities have been known and described for many years. It seems remarkable that a substance such as papain, shown to be a potent cause of lung damage in experimental animals, should have produced so little evidence of abnormality in our subjects after considerable exposure. Follow-up ventilatory function tests may cast further light on this b...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 1, 1986·The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology·E LosadaM D Ibañez
Oct 13, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Keisuke ObokiSusumu Nakae
May 1, 1978·Clinical Allergy·S M TarloF E Hargreave
Aug 24, 2012·Allergy·Tatsukuni OhnoSusumu Nakae
Dec 8, 2004·Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America·Paul G Vigo, Mitchell H Grayson
Apr 9, 2016·The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Tomohiro TakedaAkio Matsuda
Feb 27, 2013·Allergology International : Official Journal of the Japanese Society of Allergology·Susumu NakaeHirohisa Saito
Nov 8, 2016·The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Hideaki MoritaShigeo Koyasu
Jan 8, 2016·Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research·Nannan JiangLiping Wen
Oct 1, 2019·Chinese Medical Journal·Gui-Bin Liang, Zhi-Hui He
Oct 4, 2019·Clinical and Experimental Allergy : Journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology·Vadim PivnioukDonata Vercelli
Oct 19, 2014·American Journal of Physiology. Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology·Anuradha RaySally E Wenzel
Jun 4, 2020·Journal of Fungi·John Morgan KnightDavid B Corry

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