1. Introduction
Celiac disease (CeD) is a chronic, small-intestinal T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease triggered by the ingestion of dietary gluten from common food grains such as wheat, rye, and barley, in genetically predisposed individuals with a prevalence of about 1% in the general population with regional differences
[1]. Other gluten-related disorders (GRDs) such as non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) are less understood and have a prevalence rate between 0.5% and 5%
[2]. Nowadays, the only proven treatment for GRDs is strict and life-long adherence to a gluten-free diet
[3].
Viral and bacterial pathogens have long been suspected of triggering immune responses that are directed toward autoimmunity in CeD. In 2002, the group of Khosla showed that the immunodominant gluten fragment has sequence similarity with pertactin, a highly immunogenic protein from the bacterium
Bordetella pertussis; however, this result was not further investigated
[4]. It recently identified and characterized a number of mimics of HLA-DQ2.5-restricted gliadin determinants derived from the commensal bacterium
Pseudomonas fluorescens, activating disease-relevant gliadin reactive T cells isolated from CeD patients
[5]. This report was a major proof of concept that a molecular mimicry mechanism may trigger CeD.
Beyond T-cell activation in CeD, it was also proposed that gluten proteins have functional similarities with non-replicative pathogens such as prions
[6][7]. The main issue with gluten proteins is that the human digestive proteases can only partially degrade them leading to a mixture of peptides that elicit immune and toxic effects in predisposed individuals and cell lines
[8]. The mononuclear phagocytic system (MPS), composed mainly of macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells, is part of the first line of defense against pathogens. Pathogens are recognized by various immune cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells, via pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on the pathogen surface, which interact with complementary pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) on the pathogen surface the immune cell surfaces. While PRR activation is a central component to the resulting immune response, innate cells also respond to the size and shape of the pathogens and the spatial organization of PAMPs on the bacterial surface. In recent years, it has become evident that the MPS can engulf other non-self-systems such as synthetic nanoparticles generating in many cases an immune response against the foreign nanosystem
[9][10]. From a pathological standpoint, there are some concerns in the possibility that the presence of nanostructures could exacerbate or prolong PRR-driven inflammatory reactions, leading to uncontrolled tissue-damaging inflammation. In this context, it was demonstrated that pepsin digests of gliadin form spontaneously amyloid-like structures that trigger genes in the gut epithelial cell model Caco-2 involved in recruiting specialized immune cells
[11]. Furthermore, the most studied gluten peptides are 33-mer peptides and the p31-43 fragment that form peptide nanostructures, too. Both peptides trigger the adaptive or an innate immune response, respectively, in CeD patients, animal models, and cell lines culture
[12][13][14][15][16].
The immunodominant 33-mer peptide comprises residues 57 to 89 of α-2-gliadin (LQLQPFPQPQLPYPQPQLPYPQPQLPYPQPQPF). In total, 39% of the 33-mer peptide residues are prolines leading to a type-II polyproline (PPII) conformation in solution, which is known to be bound to MHC class-II molecules
[14]. When the 33-mer accumulates, it forms superstructures ranging from dimers to nano- and microstructures ranging from 10 nm to more than 1 µm
[17][18][19]. Importantly, there is a concentration-dependent structural transition from PPII toward a parallel β-sheet conformation accompanied by the formation of large superstructures that activate macrophages in vitro via Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and TLR2
[20][21]. The mentioned secondary structures are essential in protein-protein interaction and might function as a signaling component. The high percentage of Q makes this peptide amphiphilic favoring the formation of hydrogen bonds
[22], a key factor in the self-assembling process, stressing the importance between sequence and morphology
[17].
The second most studied gliadin peptide is the toxic p-31-43, a 13-mer peptide comprising the amino acids 31 to 43 (FPGQQQPFPPQQP). Although the p31-43 peptide is not presented by the HLA-DQ2
[23], the reason for its toxicity in CeD remains unknown. The mechanism by which p31-43 induces an immune response in celiac patients has been recently attributed to its effects on the endocytic compartment affecting several cell functions such as proliferation, cell motility, and innate immunity activation
[23]. Nanayakkara et al.
[24] recently proposed that p31-43 induces the IFN-α-mediated innate immune response in the CaCo-2 enterocyte cell-line by activating the TLR7 signaling pathway mimicking the immune response triggered by viruses. Recently, it was reported that p31-43 has a PPII secondary structure and can, as well as 33-mer, self-assemble under physiologically relevant conditions
[25]. Even more, p31-43 oligomers have been proposed to be responsible for activating the inflammasome in murine models
[26].
In-depth sequence and structural analysis of foreign proteins sharing high sequence similarity regions with the 33-mer and p31-43 sequences found some interesting novel bacteria connections. The top-five BLASTp hits using the 33-mer were
S. viridochromogenes,
Fischerella sp.,
Granulicatella sp.,
S. pneumoniae and
Nostoc sp.
Figure 1. In the case of the p31-43 sequence,
Streptomyces sp. and
L. edodes were found
Figure 2. Overall the identified similarity regions reached up to 68% sequence identity in the 33-mer and up to 85% for the p31-43 similarity regions. Importantly, 5 out of 10 identified proteins belonging to the host organisms known to be pathogenic for humans to different degrees.