Wheat is a worldwide staple food, yet some people suffer from strong immunological reactions after ingesting wheat-based products. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) constitute a promising approach to reduce wheat allergenicity because of their proteolytic system. In this study, 172 LAB strains were screened for their proteolytic activity on gluten proteins and α-amylase inhibitors (ATIs) by SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC. Gliadins, glutenins, and ATI antigenicity and allergenicity were assessed by Western blot/Dot blot and by degranulation assay using RBL-SX38 cells. The screening resulted in selecting 9 high gluten proteolytic strains belonging to two species: Enterococcus faecalis and Lactococcus lactis. Proteomic analysis showed that one of selected strains, Lc. lactis LLGKC18, caused degradation of the main gluten allergenic proteins. A significant decrease of the gliadins, glutenins, and ATI antigenicity was observed after fermentation of gluten by Lc. lactis LLGKC18, regardless the antibody used in the tests. Also, the allergenicity as measured by the RBL-SX38 cell degranulation test was significantly reduced. These results indicate that Lc. lactis LLGKC18 gluten fermentation can be deeply explored for its capability to hydrolyze the epitopes responsible for wheat allergy.

小麦是一种世界性的主食，但有些人在摄入小麦制品后会出现强烈的免疫反应。乳酸菌 (LAB) 因其蛋白水解系统而成为降低小麦过敏原的有前景的方法。在这项研究中，通过 SDS-PAGE 和 RP-HPLC 筛选了 172 株 LAB 菌株对面筋蛋白和 α-淀粉酶抑制剂 (ATI) 的蛋白水解活性。通过蛋白质印迹/斑点印迹和使用 RBL-SX38 细胞的脱粒测定来评估麦醇溶蛋白、麦谷蛋白和 ATI 抗原性和过敏原性。筛选导致选择了属于两个物种的9个高筋蛋白水解菌株：粪肠球菌和乳酸乳球菌。蛋白质组学分析表明，选定的菌株之一，Lc。乳酸菌LLGKC18，导致主要面筋过敏蛋白降解。Lc发酵面筋后观察到麦醇溶蛋白、麦谷蛋白和ATI抗原性显着降低。lactis LLGKC18，无论测试中使用的抗体。此外，通过 RBL-SX38 细胞脱粒试验测得的过敏性显着降低。这些结果表明Lc。lactis LLGKC18 面筋发酵水解小麦过敏表位的能力可以深入探索。