Study of immune-responsiveness to wheat antigen by IgG, IgA, and IgE immunoblotting with sera from patients with atopic dermatitis.

To investigate the immune mechanism underlying the IgE-mediated hypersensitivity to food antigens, wheat-flour proteins were extracted in mild condition, and IgG antibodies were detected by the ELISA method. Atopic dermatitis patients who had high scores for IgE-RAST were shown to have increased levels of IgG antibodies to wheat proteins. To define the allergenic polypeptides or epitopes in wheat proteins, each patient's serum was subjected to determination of IgG, IgA, and IgE antibodies to each protein component, using a highly sensitive immunoblotting method. Low molecular weight polypeptides bind specifically IgG, IgA, and IgE antibodies in serum from atopic dermatitis patients. Thus, there are specific components or epitopes in wheat proteins which are closely related to the disease states.