Cross-Reactivity Between Dietary Proteins and Chemicals Bound to Albumin With Thyroid Axis Target Sites

Abstract

The rate of autoimmune diseases is on the rise worldwide. Autoimmune thyroid disease is the most common autoimmune disease. No known cures have been found for autoimmune diseases; however, environmental factors, including dietary proteins and chemicals, may influence the expression of the disease by mechanisms of cross-reactivity. Immunologic cross-reactivity occurs when adaptive immune response against one antigen also occurs in another antigen that shares the amino acid sequence homology. The first manuscript in this thesis titled, “Immunological reactivity using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies of autoimmune target sites with dietary proteins,” investigates the role of 204 purified dietary proteins for cross-reactivity in autoimmune target sites of the thyroid axis. Cross-reactivity can also occur when chemicals bind to proteins and induce a conformational change in the macromolecule, thereby creating new peptide structures that act as neoantigens. When epitopes of neoantigens share surface topology similar to other binding sites, there is a potential for development of cross-reactive interactions. The second manuscript in this thesis titled, “Reaction between antibodies to thyroid axis target sites and chemicals bound to human serum albumin,” investigates the role of commonly encountered chemicals in autoimmune thyroid disease target sites. The identification of immunological cross-reactivity in the thyroid axis target sites supports the understanding of how specific environmental triggers may interfere with thyroid hormone replacement, disrupt hormone metabolism, act as a potential triggering agent for thyroid disease, non-thyroid illness syndrome, and thyroid autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s and Grave’s. Both manuscripts, followed by a conclusion and discussion of their combined role in the thyroid disease, are listed in this thesis.