A novel catalytic material for hydrolyzing cow's milk allergenic proteins: Papain-Cu3(PO4)2·3H2O-magnetic nanoflowers.

Milk allergenic proteins are the main reason of cow's milk allergy. The most common method for removing milk allergenic proteins is enzymatic hydrolysis. However, the direct application of protease to hydrolyze allergens will lead to the introduction of new allergenic proteins. An ideal strategy for removing milk allergenic proteins without introducing new allergenic proteins is immobilization of protease. Herein, we established a simple method to synthesize a novel papain-Cu₃(PO₄)₂·3H₂O-magnetic nanoflowers (PCMNs). The PCMNs demonstrated 1556% higher activity than the free alkaline papain. Moreover, the PCMNs could hydrolyze most of allergenic proteins in cow's milk, generating low-sensitive milk. In cycle analysis, the PCMNs also exhibited good reusability and were easily separated from the product.