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[powerofpositivethinking]

can anyone explain what exactly it means when the gliadin peptide becomes deamidated?  what causes this?  all the scientific wording I keep finding is too confusing for me to really understand the concept, so simple terms would be much appreciated    thanks!

[mushroom]

It is pretty hard to do in layman's terms (not that I could do it myself anyway )  The following abstract is not too "abstract" or technical and might allow you to get the gist of it:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/17682339

 

Celiac disease (celiac disease) is an (auto)immunologically mediated intestinal intolerance against proteins from wheat (gluten) and related cereal proteins. Tissue transglutaminase (tTG) has been identified as the autoantigen in celiac disease. Although ultimate diagnosis is based on histological analysis of small intestinal mucosa obtained via tissue biopsy, assessment of autoantibodies can provide substantial help in the evaluation of celiac disease. Gliadin antibodies are directed against the native disease-provoking cereal proteins. Despite their initial usefulness, these antibodies have lost diagnostic importance due to their poor specificity and sensitivity as celiac disease markers. Recently, it was found, however, that gliadin antibodies from sera of patients with active celiac disease preferentially recognized deamidated gliadin peptides. The use of deamidated gliadin peptides in immunoassays has significantly improved the usefulness of gliadin antibodies in diagnosis of celiac disease to that observed with autoantibody assay methods (endomysium antibodies, antibodies against tTG). The antibody epitopes (B-cell epitopes) reflect substrate specificity of tTG and resemble peptide sequences known to be strongly T-cell stimulatory (T-cell epitopes) in celiac disease. The assay applying deamidated gliadin peptides measures a new species of antibodies, which is different from conventional gliadin antibodies as well as from autoantibodies and will likely provide new information on pathophysiological mechanisms of celiac disease.