CUTTING EDGE - SELECTIVE DEAMIDATION BY TISSUE TRANSGLUTAMINASE STRONGLY ENHANCES GLIADIN-SPECIFIC T-CELL REACTIVITY

Celiac disease (CD) is caused by gluten ingestion in susceptible indiv iduals. Tissue transglutaminase (tTG)-specific Abs are characteristic of CD, and increased tTG activity has been observed in the jejunal bio psies of patients. Here we demonstrate that tTG selectively deamidates gluten peptides, which results in strongly enhanced T cell-stimulator y activity. To our knowledge, this is the first example of an enzymati c modification of a food protein that affects T cell recognition. More over, these modifications may lead to the amplification of gluten-spec ific T cell responses in the gut and consequently may be important for the development of CD.