Steven Sievers1,2, Alexander Rohrbach3, Kirsten Beyer3. 1. Department of Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany. steven.sievers@uni-potsdam.de. 2. Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany. steven.sievers@uni-potsdam.de. 3. Department of Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Wheat is a frequent elicitor of food allergy in childhood. Especially in popular media, the better digestibility and the lower allergenicity of ancient grains are repeatedly postulated. We addressed the question whether ancient wheat-related grains are less allergenic than modern wheat. METHODS: Proteins from cultivars of spelt, einkorn, emmer and durum along with durum soft wheat flour, Tritordeum and bread wheat were separated by electrophoresis. Immunoblots were performed with a pool serum of six sera from wheat-sensitized children aged 1-11 years (wheat-specific IgE 22 kUA/l). As controls, pool serum from five sera atopic patients aged 3-13 years who had no sensitization to wheat (wheat-specific IgE 0.11 kUA/l) and six sera from non-atopics at the age of 3 months to 5 years (wheat-specific IgE 0.06 kUA/l) was used. Area under the curve (AUC) in Coomassie-stained gels and immunoblots was determined and related. RESULTS: Water/salt-soluble protein patterns were very similar among varieties. In einkorn cultivars, one protein band corresponding to an alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitor (ATI) was absent. Water-insoluble protein fractions differed markedly among varieties and cultivars. IgE bound to a large number of proteins in all protein fractions both in wheat and in the wheat-related ancient grains. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with sensitization to wheat show a significant IgE binding against both modern and ancient grain varieties of the genus Triticum. Therefore, ancient grains do not appear to have a generally reduced risk for wheat allergy sufferers. However, few individuals only sensitized to ATI could benefit from the consumption of einkorn.
PURPOSE:Wheat is a frequent elicitor of food allergy in childhood. Especially in popular media, the better digestibility and the lower allergenicity of ancient grains are repeatedly postulated. We addressed the question whether ancient wheat-related grains are less allergenic than modern wheat. METHODS: Proteins from cultivars of spelt, einkorn, emmer and durum along with durum soft wheat flour, Tritordeum and bread wheat were separated by electrophoresis. Immunoblots were performed with a pool serum of six sera from wheat-sensitized children aged 1-11 years (wheat-specific IgE 22 kUA/l). As controls, pool serum from five sera atopic patients aged 3-13 years who had no sensitization to wheat (wheat-specific IgE 0.11 kUA/l) and six sera from non-atopics at the age of 3 months to 5 years (wheat-specific IgE 0.06 kUA/l) was used. Area under the curve (AUC) in Coomassie-stained gels and immunoblots was determined and related. RESULTS: Water/salt-soluble protein patterns were very similar among varieties. In einkorn cultivars, one protein band corresponding to an alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitor (ATI) was absent. Water-insoluble protein fractions differed markedly among varieties and cultivars. IgE bound to a large number of proteins in all protein fractions both in wheat and in the wheat-related ancient grains. CONCLUSIONS:Patients with sensitization to wheat show a significant IgE binding against both modern and ancient grain varieties of the genus Triticum. Therefore, ancient grains do not appear to have a generally reduced risk for wheatallergy sufferers. However, few individuals only sensitized to ATI could benefit from the consumption of einkorn.
Entities:
Keywords:
ATI; Ancient grains; IgE; Triticum; Wheat allergy
Authors: Jonas F Ludvigsson; Daniel A Leffler; Julio C Bai; Federico Biagi; Alessio Fasano; Peter H R Green; Marios Hadjivassiliou; Katri Kaukinen; Ciaran P Kelly; Jonathan N Leonard; Knut Erik Aslaksen Lundin; Joseph A Murray; David S Sanders; Marjorie M Walker; Fabiana Zingone; Carolina Ciacci Journal: Gut Date: 2012-02-16 Impact factor: 23.059