Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Immunoglobulin – antiserum – antibody – or antibody fragment,...
Patent
1995-11-17
1999-06-15
Caputa, Anthony C.
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Immunoglobulin, antiserum, antibody, or antibody fragment,...
4241781, 530300, 530350, 5303871, 5303911, 5303891, 514844, A61K 39395
Patent
active
059119861
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This is a national stage entry of PCT/GB93/02610.
This invention is concerned with flavours and fragrances. It is of course very well known that the flavour of a foodstuff is at least in part attributable to materials which have some volatility and are perceived by the olfactory sense of the human body.
We have now appreciated that it is possible to make use of the binding affinity which is characteristic of binding proteins such as antibodies as a means of controlling the perceptibility of odoriferous materials which may be present, more specifically undesirable flavours or fragrances or constituents thereof.
According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a method of reducing the perceptibility of an odoriferous substance which comprises bringing the substance or a precursor thereof into contact with a polypeptide having a binding affinity for the substance or its said precursor, with an affinity constant K.sub.a, as determined in water at 20.degree. C., of at least 10.sup.6 mol.sup.-1 liter. The term odoriferous material refers here to flavours and to odours. The application of the invention which is particularly envisaged is reduction of the perceptibility of an odoriferous substance whose presence is undesirable, notably an off-flavour or a malodour.
In a second aspect, this invention provides a composition containing a polypeptide having a binding affinity for an odoriferous substance or precursor therefor, with an affinity constant K.sub.a, as determined in water at 20.degree. C., of at least 10.sup.6 mol.sup.-1 liter.
The binding polypeptide in this invention may be a protein or a smaller polypeptide. It is envisaged that the binding polypeptide will, generally, be an antibody to the odoriferous substance or precursor or a fragment of such antibody. For commercial reasons it is preferred that the polypeptide should be as small as possible, and so might sometimes be referred to merely as a "peptide" provided it achieves the required blinding.
Reversible binding by a polypeptide entails ligand-receptor type interactions between the polypeptide and the material which is bound to it.
When a polypeptide binds to a substance, there is an equilibrium between bound and unbound substance, which can be represented by the chemical equation: AS represents the complex of polypeptide and substance bound together. The concentrations are related by: ##EQU1## where K.sub.a is a constant, referred to as the affinity constant. In this invention the value of K.sub.a is 10.sup.6 mol.sup.-1 liter or greater. It may well have a value of at least 10.sup.7 or even at least 10.sup.8 mol.sup.-1 liter for example in the range 10.sup.7 to 10.sup.9 mol.sup.-1 liter which is typical of the specific binding affinity between an antibody and an antigen.
It will be appreciated that with an affinity constant of 10.sup.6 concentration of unbound substance, can be much less than it would be in the absence of the polypeptide, hence considerably reducing the perceptibility of the substance S.
Materials such as antibodies and fragments which bind with affinity constants of 10.sup.6 mol.sup.-1 liter or greater will usually display such affinity rather specifically for a single substance or closely related substances. By reason of specificity for an undesirable substance or a precursor therefore, it is possible to reduce the perceptibility of that substance selectively, in the presence of other odoriferous substances whose presence is desirable and whose perceptibility is reduced to a relatively lesser extent if at all.
Thus there can be reduction in the perceptibility of an off-flavour, i.e. a flavour substance considered undesirable without suppression of desired flavour. Correspondingly, there can be reduction in malodour without suppression of a fragrance or odour which is desired.
In embodiments of this invention it may well be the case that the concentration of binding polypeptide and the affinity coefficient K.sub.a are both sufficiently high in relation to the concentration of the substance or precursor which is to b
REFERENCES:
patent: 3376198 (1968-04-01), Petersen et al.
patent: 4089942 (1978-05-01), Bore et al.
patent: 4610877 (1986-09-01), Pearson et al.
patent: 5030722 (1991-07-01), Snyder et al.
patent: 5057424 (1991-10-01), Knuth et al.
patent: 5260270 (1993-11-01), Snyger et al.
patent: 5573922 (1996-11-01), Hoess et al.
Lee et al Science (1987) 235 (4792) pp. 1053-1056, Abstract only.
Bakalgar et al Current Opinion in Neurobiology (19910 vol. 1 pp. 204-208.
Abouzied et al J. Agric Food Chem (1990) vol. 38 pp. 331-335.
Bakalgar et al Science (1990) vol. 250 pp. 1403-1406.
Middlebrooks et al Abstracts of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (1987) p. 304.
Windholz et al (eds) " The Merck Indexs, Tenth Edition." Merck and Company, Inc. USA. pp. 34-35 1983.
Harlowe and Lane, "Antibodies, A Laboratory Manual"USA pp. 626-627 and 630, 1998.
Kuby, Immunology (1992) W.H. Freeman and Company, pp. 122-123, 1992.
Bergner, Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau, vol. 70, pp. 349-351 (1974).
Furia et al, Fenaroli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, vol. 2, 2nd Ed. USA, CRC Press, p. 3 (1975).
Overbosch et al, Food Reviews International, vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 137-184 (1991).
Zeng et al. Journal of Chemical Ecology, vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 1469-1463 (1991).
Dufour et al, J. Agric. Food Chem., vol. 38, pp. 1691-1695 (1990).
Davis Paul
De Geus Pieter
De Kok Petrus M.
Haring Petrus G.
Bakalgar Heather A.
Caputa Anthony C.
Unilever Patent Holdings B.V.
LandOfFree
Foodstuffs and other compositions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Foodstuffs and other compositions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Foodstuffs and other compositions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-400926