Non-Gluten Proteins May Harm Immune Responses Of Celiac Disease Patients

Patients dealing with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population, are unable to handle gluten. Their immune response results in added inflammation and tissue damage in the small intestine. Now, recent findings published in the journal Proteome Research reveal that those with celiac disease may also have issues with types of non-gluten protein found in wheat.

"This work is the first to attempt mapping of the B cell response to non-gluten proteins of wheat in celiac disease," said the study's principal investigator, Armin Alaedini, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (in the Institute of Human Nutrition and the Celiac Disease Center) at Columbia University, in a news release. 

For the study, researchers searched for protein targets through two-dimensional separation techniques, immunoassays, and mass spectrometry. The new data identify a group of molecules known as serpins, in addition to four other types of wheat protein, as novel non-gluten immunogenic proteins in celiac disease.

"These results indicate that immunologic reactivity in celiac disease may not be limited to wheat gluten, but can involve certain non-gluten proteins, too," said co-author Peter H. R. Green, MD, the Phyllis and Ivan Seidenberg Professor of Medicine and director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center, said, I think the findings have implications for understanding the mechanism of the disease and developing new therapeutics."

However, the study authors cautioned that they are uncertain whether the identified protein actually plays a role in contributing to existential damage.

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