Immunoreactivity of Gluten-Sensitized Sera Toward Wheat, Rice, Corn, and Amaranth Flour Proteins Treated With Microbial Transglutaminase

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of microbial transglutaminase (mTG) on the immunoreactivity of wheat and gluten-free cereals flours to the sera of patients with celiac disease (CD) and non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). Both doughs and sourdoughs, the latter prepared by a two-step fermentation with Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis and Candida milleri , were studied. In order to evaluate the IgG-binding capacity toward the proteins of the studied flours, total protein as well as protein fractions enriched in albumins/globulins, prolamins and glutelins, were analyzed by SDS-PAGE and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results showed that while mTG modified both gluten and gluten-free flour by increasing the amount of cross-linked proteins, it did not affect the serum's immune-recognition. In fact, no significant differences were observed in the immunoreactivity of sera from CD and NCGS patients toward wheat and gluten-free protein extracts after enzyme treatment, nor did this biotechnological treatment affect the immunoreactivity of control samples or the sera of healthy patients. These results suggest that mTG may be used as a tool to create innovative gluten and gluten-free products with improved structural properties, without increasing the immune-reactivity toward proteins present either in doughs or in sourdoughs.

Effect of food processing on the immunoreactivity of gliadin

“…The two steps of enzyme hydrolysis were conducted by using transglutaminase with peptidases or with prolylendopeptidase, and the reduction was approximately the same with both of the enzymes, 40%. Scarnato et al (2019) determined the effect of microbial transglutaminase enzyme on the reduction of CD patients, non-CD patients and healthy people reaction, and they found that there was no significant reduction of blood sera of each individual patient when they consumed treated and untreated with the enzyme of wheat flour and wheat dough. However, they found a significant reduction of the reaction on behalf of the treated samples when pooled blood sera for all patients were analysed.…”

Processed Food Additive Microbial Transglutaminase and Its Cross-Linked Gliadin Complexes Are Potential Public Health Concerns in Celiac Disease

“…The debate of using mTG transamidating capacity to produce safer gluten-free products as a future therapeutic strategy for CD is an open one; at present, it is lacking successful CD patient double-blind, cross-over challenges [101][102][103][104][105][106].…”