Probiotics degrading gluten peptides?

Probiotics again on this blog?

OK, consider this a micropost if you will, as I draw your attention to the paper by Duar and colleagues [1] and their study results suggested to provide: "a basis for the selection of Lactobacillus strains for probiotic applications aimed to reduce epitope-containing gluten peptides before reaching the epithelium of the small intestine of celiac patients." What the Duar findings translate into is a possible gluten peptide degrading role for certain strains of probiotics - "Lactobacillus ruminis, L. johnsonii, L. amylovorus, and L. salivarius" - which might disrupt an important biological process noted in the autoimmune condition coeliac disease (see here).

Your son has been pretending to be a substitute teacher...

Of course we have kinda been here before as per my discussion of the Sarno paper [2] not so long ago (see here). They reported that a certain strain of bacteria might block some action from those dastardly gluten peptides insofar as gaining access to the gut mucosa from where they start to exert their biological effect [3]. The Duar findings extend the possible actions of probiotics to talk about actually degrading gluten peptides (i.e. chopping them up into something slight less 'toxic') as per other discussions on other preparations potentially having the same effect (see here).

There is obviously quite a way to go in terms of testing whether specific probiotics are indeed capable of degrading dietary peptides and blocking their entry into the gut mucosa in certain conditions. The Duar paper whilst utilising some pretty nifty analytical methods and techniques (tandem mass spectrometry) only looked at the chemistry of such a probiotic action and not necessarily the clinical effects in real people. That being said, if such work does indeed show benefit under controlled experimental conditions, the days of a lifelong gluten-free diet for coeliac disease may well be numbered.

And so the rise of the potential health benefits of probiotics marches on. Next stop: probiotics rescuing mitochondrial functions [4]? (Thanks to @BryanBarksdale for the link).

Music: Carry You Home by James Blunt.

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[1] Duar RM. et al. Identification and characterization of intestinal lactobacilli strains capable of degrading immunotoxic peptides present in gluten. J Appl Microbiol. 2014 Nov 6. doi: 10.1111/jam.12687.

[2] Sarno M. et al. Lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74 interferes with gliadin peptides entrance in Caco-2 cells. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2014 Jul 17:1-7.

[3] Meresse B. et al. Celiac disease: from oral tolerance to intestinal inflammation, autoimmunity and lymphomagenesis. Mucosal Immunol. 2009 Jan;2(1):8-23. doi: 10.1038/mi.2008.75.

[4] Vitetta L. et al. Live probiotic cultures and the gastrointestinal tract: symbiotic preservation of tolerance whilst attenuating pathogenicity. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2014 Oct 15;4:143.

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Duar RM, Clark K, Patil PB, Hernández C, Brüning S, Burkey TE, Madayiputhiya N, Taylor SL, & Walter J (2014). Identification and characterization of intestinal lactobacilli strains capable of degrading immunotoxic peptides present in gluten. Journal of applied microbiology PMID: 25376327