Is Cross-Reaction between Gliadin and Different Food and Tissue Antigens a Celiac Disease Myth?

I do think more research needs to be done in this area, especially in the realm of additional, usually temporary, food intolerance issued triggered most likely by leaky gut around the time of a CD diagnosis, which usually disappear 1-2 years after a GFD. The overwhelming anecdotal evidence indicates they are real, as they were in my case—I could not eat chicken eggs, tomatoes, dairy, etc. for at least 2 years after my GFD. I believe this is the “cross reactive” phenomena, it’s real, and the full nature of it needs to be studied. On an interesting side note I used to get allergy shots from an immunologist for all the exact same things I ended up not being able to eat. My blood tests for food allergies were very high, especially with wheat, and my doctor told me not to eat it every day. I did not listen. It is interesting the list of foods that scored high in my allergy tests became the “cross reactors” in my case. 

I have just found another article concerning Microbial TTg compared to TTg2 and it found that the Microbial TTg generally favored transamidation over deamidation which would likely lead to lower immunoreactivity of the treated gliadins (GLUTEN) and this preference was increased depending on ph and ratio of enzyme to substrate--so then possibly in food manufacturing the conditions could be controlled to optimize transamidation over deamidation to result in the least immunoreactive product---the question --is the least good enough or are other resulting products ot transamidation a potential problem--???

Tissue transglutaminase is a enzyme that is found everywhere in the body. It is also used to breakdown food in the intestine. When someone who is Celiac eats wheat, the combination of this enzyme and wheat causes an immune reaction.  

I don't think microbial Tissue transglutaminase is much different (it at all) from the enzyme found in the body naturally, or the enzyme that is found is all food. From the research I have done I don't think it is a health risk.  

I am going to have to disagree with the article by Christina Graves based on my personal experience with my body. I think that Aristo Vojdani brought some good ideas to the table that many people would have never thought of otherwise. Once I read the study and applied those ideas to my diet fully I saw immediate results, and I have read hundreds if not thousands of comments from people who have also achieved results because of that study. For me the cross-reactive research by Aristo Vojdani confirmed what I already had discovered on my own, that is, a Gluten-Free diet is not always the whole answer for everyone who is diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and it certainly was not in my case.

I find it hard to understand why people want to discredit research without ever duplicating the study on their own to discredit it properly. How hard would it be for a professional to purchase foods from the super market and test this for themselves, rather than just pick apart someone else's work who clearly is only offering new ideas that can and should be tested further, whether that be a personal experiment at home, or in a lab.

Aristo Vojdani defended his work in a response to the article posted on at  Open Original Shared Link and I agree with what he had to say.

Properties of Gluten Intolerance: Gluten Structure, Evolution, Pathogenicity and Detoxification Capabilities

Open Original Shared Link

This article has a section describing the different genotypes of Celiacs and how they react to different gliadin antigens.

Graves' article is outdated. This is based on an older version of Cyrex Array #4. Dr. Aristo Vojdani has updated Cyrex Array #4 since then. I highly recommend getting Cyrex Array #4 if you are still sick after going gluten free. The newer test spells out which foods are commonly found in patients with celiac disease and with gluten intolerant individuals and it has another section for the foods that really do cross-react. The older test said the whole thing was cross-reactive. Also you don't have to worry about it testing for foods with small amounts of gluten in them. This has been addressed.

He also has written more recent scientific studies that showed when they look at the data from any patient that has antibodies to Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA) the average patient has antibodies to 130-140 other foods. He pretty much coined the terms "molecular mimicry" and "environmental factors".

Also even though I had taken the earlier version of his test, Cyrex Array #4 did confirm why I wasn't gaining weight after going gluten free. I had antibodies to rice, amaranth, quinoa and other things that gluten free breads are made out of and my reaction was the same as it was to gluten. I finally went from dying at 98 lbs. to 115 and thriving after taking Cyrex Array #4. Very happy with his tests as they saved my life and I think he is ahead of his time.

I agree! Great research that should be given the light of day as it has helped so many people. I went from 150 looking like death to 180 and feeling great. All my symptoms have gone away completely, and all I had to do was avoid all "gluten free" labeled foods and just eat minimally processed whole foods instead. Cooking was a chore at first, but feeling good and looking good is so worth it.

That said, some people can function fine with a few small symptoms on a basic gluten free diet, but for those that have real problems that research is critical knowledge.