Antibodies to Bovine Beta-Casein in Diabetes and Other Autoimmune Diseases

Abstract

Cow's milk is thought to be an environmental trigger for autoimmune response in Type 1 diabetes. In the present study, our aim was to investigate the antibody response to bovine beta-casein in different immune- and non-immune-mediated diseases and to establish whether such an antibody response is specific to Type 1 diabetes. We measured antibodies to bovine beta-casein using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a total of 519 sera from subjects as follows: 71 patients with Type 1 diabetes, 33 patients with coeliac disease, 100 patients with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), 50 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD), 50 patients with Type 2 diabetes, 24 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and 3 different groups of controls (n = 191). Significantly increased levels of antibodies to beta-casein were found in patients with Type 1 diabetes, coeliac disease and in LADA compared to age-matched controls (p = 0.01, p = 0.02 and p = 0.01, respectively). No differences were observed in beta-casein antibody titres between patients with other disease conditions (MS, and ATD) and age-matched controls. The highest antibody response to beta-casein in Type 1 diabetic patients and in patients with coeliac disease could reflect the gut mucosal immune disorders common to Type 1 diabetes and coeliac disease. Furthermore, the elevated beta-casein antibody levels found in LADA patients suggest that the antibody response to this protein may be relevant in autoimmune diabetes.

Lower Expression of Tight Junction Protein 1 Gene and Increased FOXP3 Expression in the Small Bowel Mucosa in Coeliac Disease and Associated Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

“…Increased levels of antibodies reactive with dietary proteins such as cow’s milk proteins have been well studied in patients with CD and T1D [12,48,49,50]. Rodriguez-Juan et al [49] found that the level of antibodies to bovine serum albumin was significantly higher in CD patients and in those T1D patients who had antibodies to reticulin, endomysium or gliadin compared with controls.…”

Genetic Testing of Newborns for Type 1 Diabetes Susceptibility – The MIDIA Study

“…Case-control studies have also found associations between cow's milk antibodies and T1D see e.g. (Sarugeri et al, 1999;Monetini et al, 2002), but some form of reverse causality cannot be excluded as alternative explanations for the association described in these studies. Although an early study indicated a role of so-called molecular mimicry between a protein in cow's milk and a -cell antigen (Karjalainen et al, 1992), it was subsequently refuted (Rønningen et al, 1998).…”

Consumption of cows’ milk is associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A cross-sectional study

“…IgG and IgM antibodies to cows' milk proteins can be higher in serum from persons with T1DM. IgG antibodies against casein have also been found to be increased in Type 1 diabetic patients, though not significantly so (Monetini et al, 2002).…”