The prevalence of celiac disease and wheat allergy has increased over the last decades. Certain wheat proteins are held to be responsible for triggering inflammatory disorders in the human body. The consumption of wheat can also cause a reaction in which neither allergic nor autoimmune mechanisms are involved. This entity is called non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and is characterized by intestinal and/or extraintestinal symptoms with an estimated prevalence of 1-6%. Since the pathogenesis is poorly recognized and the biomarkers are still unclear the diagnosis is rather difficult. Besides growing attention and improved diagnostic techniques, changes in the protein content and composition over the last 100 years due to breeding might be one reason for the increasing number of patients who suffer from NCGS. Breeding may have unintentionally resulted in higher immunostimulatory potential of modern cultivars (registered after 1950) compared to older cultivars (registered before 1950). The objective of this project is to investigate causes for NCGS in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the protein content and distribution of 60 German wheat cultivars, which were registered in the period of 1891 to 2010, were investigated by Osborne fractionation and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The results indicated a decreasing trend over the last 100 years for the crude protein contents. Also a decreasing trend was observed for the albumin/globulin and gliadin contents, while an increasing trend was determined for the glutenin contents. On the basis of the balance between gliadin and glutenin contents no change in the gluten contents was observed. In line with the hypothesis, the results showed that the contents of the fractions as well as crude protein have changed over the past 100 years due to breeding and followed a specific trend although the contents were highly variable over different cultivars. Due to significant changes in the RP-HPLC patterns, a new method of peak integration was performed to allow a comprehensive characterization of individual wheat cultivars and better distinction between those. Consequently, principal component analysis of all data showed a clear cluster formation for modern and old wheat cultivars. Further work will focus on elucidating the immunoreactive potential of the wheat cultivars and how this can be traced back to the identified qualitative changes in protein composition.

Wheatscan: Unraveling the causes for wheat sensitivities

2019 Fall National Meeting

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