Efficient degradation of gluten by a prolyl endoprotease in a gastrointestinal model: Implications for coeliac disease

Background: Coeliac disease is caused by an immune response to gluten. As gluten proteins are proline rich they are resistant to enzymatic digestion in the gastrointestinal tract, a property that probably contributes to the immunogenic nature of gluten. Aims: This study determined the efficiency of gluten degradation by a post-proline cutting...

Microbial transglutaminases generate T cell stimulatory epitopes involved in celiac disease

Celiac disease (CD) is a permanent intolerance to gluten. In CD patients, gluten peptides cause an inflammation in the small intestine leading to tissue damage. Tissue transglutaminase (tTG) is an enzyme involved in the repair of damaged tissue by crosslinking of extracellular matrix proteins. Under certain conditions, tTG can deamidate...

A novel and sensitive method for the detection of T cell stimulatory epitopes of α/β- and γ-gliadin

Background: It is now generally accepted that coeliac disease (CD) is caused by inflammatory T cell responses to gluten peptides bound to HLA-DQ2 or -DQ8 molecules. There is overwhelming evidence that CD patients can mount T cell responses to peptides found in both α-gliadin and γ-gliadin molecules. Assays that would detect the presence or...