Reaction of food‐specific antibodies with different tissue antigens

Abstract

Summary Wheat, milk, peanuts, soy, egg and corn are among the most major sources of immunoreactive proteins. The first goal of this study was to examine the reactivity of food‐specific antibodies with human tissue antigens. Affinity‐purified rabbit anti‐food antibodies were applied to sixty‐five tissue antigens. Anti‐peanut antibody had the most reactions with twenty‐four out of the sixty‐five antigens, followed by anti‐alpha‐gliadin with twenty, anti‐egg with seventeen, anti‐wheat with fifteen, anti‐milk with fourteen, and both anti‐corn and anti‐soy with ten each tissue antigens. Serial dilutions and inhibition study confirmed that these reactions were specific. The second goal was to determine the percentage of blood donors with elevations in IgG, IgA, IgM and IgE antibodies against these food antigens. A significant percentage of the tested blood samples showed elevations in antibodies against different food antigens. This reaction of food‐specific antibodies with different tissue antigens indicates that cross‐reactivity between food and human tissue antigens exists, and these antibodies, if detected in blood, may contribute to different autoimmune diseases.

“Let Food Be Thy Medicine”: Gluten and Potential Role in Neurodegeneration

“…More specifically, autoantibodies targeting FcγR-mediated function, tau and ceramide in AD or FcγR-mediated function in PD, were observed to be pathogenic [ 113 ]. Most recently, putative 16 autoantibody biomarkers were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of AD [ 114 ] So, not surprising is the above mentions gluten-brain cross-reactivity [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 78 , 79 ] and sequence homology between gluten/gliadin peptides and cephalic epitopes ( Table 3 ). An interesting aspect is the similarity between cephalic antigenes that were detected by both technics, namely, cross-reactivity and sequence homology in relation with wheat/gluten/gliadin components.…”

“…An interesting aspect is the similarity between cephalic antigenes that were detected by both technics, namely, cross-reactivity and sequence homology in relation with wheat/gluten/gliadin components. Neuropsychiatric antibodies against alpha enolase and GAD65 cross-reacted and had sequence similarity with wheat and gliadin, respectively [ 10 , 65 , 78 , 79 ]. More so, anti amyloid-beta peptides and anti alpha synuclein antibodies exist in AD and PD [ 84 ] and both had sequence homology with gluten/gliadin peptides ( Table 3 ).…”

“…Anti Purkinje cells and alpha-synuclein antibodies cross-react with gliadin/wheat [ 8 ], (Vojdani Aristo, personal communication), alpha synuclein accumulates in Purkinje cells in Lewy body [ 115 ] and have sequence homology with gliadin peptides ( Table 3 ). Anti wheat antibodies reacted against dopamin receptors [ 10 , 79 ]. Despite the present lack of sequence homology between gliadin and dopamin receptors, gluten is the major protein in wheat and it is posible that the anti wheat anibodies contain anti gluten antibodies that cross react with the dopamin receptor.…”

“…Cross-reactive antibodies between self-components and environmental epitopes are a well described biologic phenomenon, as schematically illustrated in Figure 1 . In this regards, molecular mimicry between anti-wheat/gluten and brain tissue component were shown by cross-reactive antibodies [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 78 , 79 ]. For example, when autistic children were checked, an eight amino acids sequence similarity of gliadin and cerebellar neural tissue was detected [ 8 ].…”

“…More so, when anti-food antibody derived from six common foods were checked against 65 different tissue antigens, anti-wheat antibody cross-reacted with 15 tissue antigens. Concentrating on brain components, the anti-wheat antibodies reacted against dopamine receptor, neurotropin, alpha enolase and not surprisingly also against tTG which is the autoantigen of CD [ 10 , 79 ]. Interestingly, anti-gliadin antibodies also reacted against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65), an enzyme involved in the production of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is a prime inhibitory neurotransmitter that, when dysregulated, is implicated in both depression and anxiety [ 65 , 78 ].…”