Passage of Undegraded Dietary Antigen into the Blood of Healthy Adults

The absorption into the blood of ovalbumin (OA) and beta‐lactoglobulin (BLG) was investigated in eight healthy adults. Enzyme immunoassays showed up to 10.5 ng OA/ml serum in seven out of eight individuals 2‐3 h after a test meal, whereas no BLG was demonstrated. The apparent size distribution of the absorbed OA was investigated by high‐pressure liquid gel permeation chromatography fractionalion, followed by enzyme‐linked immunosorbemt assay, which in the fractionated sera showed OA in all eight individuals. OA was found at the elution volume of intact OA and, in addition, was present in high molecular weight fractions, as part of the immune complexes. The serum concentrations of OA could not be clearly correlated to levels of serum and secretory anti‐OA antibodies. No significant alterations of the levels of circulating immune complexes could be demonstrated by two antigen‐nonspecific assays. The presented data indicate that, for certain dietary proteins, low‐grade absorption of apparently undegraded protein into the blood occurs regularly in healthy adults.

[1]  R. Levinsky,et al.  IMMUNE COMPLEXES CONTAINING FOOD PROTEINS IN NORMAL AND ATOPIC SUBJECTS AFTER ORAL CHALLENGE AND EFFECT OF SODIUM CROMOGLYCATE ON ANTIGEN ABSORPTION , 1979, The Lancet.

[2]  P. Kilshaw,et al.  Passage of ingested protein into the blood during gastrointestinal hypersensitivity reactions: experiments in the preruminant calf. , 1980, Clinical and experimental immunology.

[3]  S. Svehag,et al.  Detection and quantitation of circulating immune complexes by the C1q-protein A binding assay (C1q-PABA). , 1981, Methods in enzymology.

[4]  J. Guesdon,et al.  Coupling of Enzymes to Antibodies and Antigens , 1978 .

[5]  J H Lawrie,et al.  The two histological types of gastric carcinoma in Northern Nigeria. , 1978, Gut.

[6]  J. Jensenius,et al.  Humoral immunity to dietary antigens in healthy adults. Occurrence, isotype and IgG subclass distribution of serum antibodies to protein antigens. , 1985, International archives of allergy and applied immunology.

[7]  C. André,et al.  Oral immunization of rats with human serum albumin: interference with intestinal absorption and tolerogenic effect , 1978 .

[8]  K. Isselbacher,et al.  Uptake and Transport of Macromolecules by the Intestine , 1974 .

[9]  J. Jensenius,et al.  Semi-automatic analysis of proteins and protein complexes by automated enzyme immunoassay after separation by high-performance gel-permeation chromatography. Size distribution of C3-IgG complexes. , 1984, Journal of chromatography.

[10]  V. W. Lippard,et al.  IMMUNE REACTIONS INDUCED IN INFANTS BY INTESTINAL ABSORPTION OF INCOMPLETELY DIGESTED COW'S MILK PROTEIN , 1936 .

[11]  J. Guesdon,et al.  The use of avidin-biotin interaction in immunoenzymatic techniques. , 1979, The journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry : official journal of the Histochemistry Society.

[12]  C. Cunningham-Rundles,et al.  Dietary protein antigenemia in humoral immunodeficiency. Correlation with splenomegaly. , 1984, The American journal of medicine.

[13]  B. Ratner,et al.  PASSAGE OF NATIVE PROTEINS THROUGH THE NORMAL GASTRO-INTESTINAL WALL. , 1935, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[14]  T. Skogh.  Overestimate of 125I-protein uptake from the adult mouse gut. , 1982, Gut.

[15]  C. Cunningham-Rundles,et al.  Bovine antigens and the formation of circulating immune complexes in selective immunoglobulin A deficiency. , 1979, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[16]  W. Walker,et al.  Intestinal uptake of macromolecules. VI. Uptake of protein antigen in vivo in normal rats and in rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis or subjected to mild systemic anaphylaxis. , 1979, Gastroenterology.

[17]  R. Levinsky,et al.  Detection of specific antigen within circulating immune complexes: validation of the assay and its application to food antigen-antibody complexes formed in healthy and food-allergic subjects. , 1981, Clinical and experimental immunology.

[18]  P. Lim,et al.  The effect of antibody on the intestinal absorption of macromolecules and on intestinal permeability in adult mice. , 1982, International archives of allergy and applied immunology.

[19]  R. Cooke,et al.  The gastrointestinal absorption of unaltered protein in normal infants and in infants recovering from diarrhea. , 1955, Pediatrics.

[20]  J. Jonsen,et al.  Mucosal penetration of antigen in the presence or absence of serum-derived antibody. , 1977, Immunology.

[21]  K. Isselbacher,et al.  Protein uptake by the intestine: evidence for absorption of intact macromolecules. , 1974, Gastroenterology.

[22]  W. Walker,et al.  Binding of exogenous protein fragments to native proteins: possible explanation for the overestimation of uptake of extrinsically labelled macromolecules from the gut. , 1981, Immunology.

[23]  E. W. Williams,et al.  Transport of large breakdown products of dietary protein through the gut wall. , 1978, Gut.

[24]  W. Walker,et al.  Effect of locally induced intestinal anaphylaxis on the uptake of a bystander antigen. , 1981, The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology.

[25]  Thomas Hc,et al.  The induction of tolerance to a soluble protein antigen by oral administration. , 1974 .

[26]  P. Gallagher,et al.  Acute and chronic immunological response to dietary antigen. , 1983, Gut.

[27]  M. van der Giessen,et al.  Do food antigens play a role in the pathogenesis of some cases of human glomerulonephritis? , 1983, Clinical and experimental immunology.

[28]  A. Cant,et al.  The passage of maternal dietary proteins into human breast milk. , 1984, International archives of allergy and applied immunology.

[29]  M. Inganäs,et al.  Intestinal uptake of ovalbumin in malabsorption and food allergy in relation to serum IgG antibody and orally administered sodium cromoglycate , 1979, Clinical allergy.

[30]  R. Levinsky,et al.  Solid phase radioimmunoassay for detection of circulating food protein antigens in human serum. , 1980, Journal of immunological methods.

[31]  J. Jensenius,et al.  Quantification of human immunoglobulins by semiautomatic polyethylene glycol precipitation radioimmunoassays. Estimation of circulating immune complexes and immunoglobulin synthesized in vitro. , 1983, Journal of immunological methods.

[32]  M. Chase,et al.  Inhibition of Experimental Drug Allergy by Prior Feeding of the Sensitizing Agent , 1946, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.

[33]  J. Soothill,et al.  Absorption of antigens after oral immunisation and the simultaneous induction of specific systemic tolerance. , 1979, Gut.