Immune activation by casein dietary antigens in bi-polar disorder

Glynis Steele

Senior Member
Messages
404
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne UK
Immune activation by casein dietary antigens in bipolar disorder.
Severance EG, Dupont D, Dickerson FB, Stallings CR, Origoni AE, Krivogorsky B, Yang S, Haasnoot W, Yolken RH.

Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA INRA-Agrocampus Ouest, Science et Technologie du Lait et de l'Oeuf, Rennes, France Stanley Research Program, Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore, MD, USA Biomolecular Detection (BD), RIKILT-Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen UR, The Netherlands.

Abstract
Severance EG, Dupont D, Dickerson FB, Stallings CR, Origoni AE, Krivogorsky B, Yang S, Haasnoot W, Yolken RH. Immune activation by casein dietary antigens in bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord 2010: 12: 834-842. 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives:  Inflammation and other immune processes are increasingly linked to psychiatric diseases. Antigenic triggers specific to bipolar disorder are not yet defined. We tested whether antibodies to bovine milk caseins were associated with bipolar disorder, and whether patients recognized different epitopes of the casein protein than control individuals. Methods:  Anti-bovine casein immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were measured with solid-phase immunoassays in 75 individuals with bipolar disorder and 65 controls. Epitope recognition was evaluated in immunoassays by cross neutralization with anti-bovine casein polyclonal antibodies of defined reactivity. Group-specific reactivity and associations with symptom severity scores were detected with age-, gender-, and race-controlled regression models. Results:  Individuals with bipolar disorder had significantly elevated anti-casein IgG (t-test, p ≤ 0.001) compared to controls. Casein IgG seropositivity conferred odds ratios of 3.97 for bipolar disorder [n = 75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31-12.08, p ≤ 0.015], 5.26 for the bipolar I subtype (n = 56, 95% CI: 1.66-16.64, p ≤ 0.005), and 3.98 for bipolar disorder with psychosis (n = 54, 95% CI: 1.32-12.00, p ≤ 0.014). Lithium and/or antipsychotic medication did not significantly affect anti-casein IgG levels. Casein IgG measures correlated with severity of manic (R(2)  = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.05-0.24, p ≤ 0.02) but not depressive symptoms. Unlike controls, sera from individuals with bipolar disorder did not inhibit binding of casein-reactive animal sera (t-test/χ(2) , p ≤ 0.0001). Conclusions:  Anti-casein IgG associations with bipolar I diagnoses, psychotic symptom history, and mania severity scores suggest that casein-related immune activation may relate to the psychosis and mania components of this mood disorder. Case-control differences in epitope recognition implicate disease-related alterations in how the casein molecule is digested and/or how resulting casein-derived structures are rendered immunogenic.

Glynis
 

guest

Guest
Messages
320
That's very interesting, thank you, Glynis. The understanding of how permeability of the intestine (allergies, inflammation etc.) and the BBB (bi-polar, depression, anxiety etc.) works will be key to address many diseases or at least symptoms from which many people suffer.
 
Back