IMMUNODIETICA: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SYSTEMS INTERACTION OF DIET AND AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE
- Iosif M. Gershteyn, United States of America
Abstract
Background and Aims
50 Million people in the United States suffer from an autoimmune disease, and this number is growing. Up to 70% of cases could be due to environmental factors. Therefore, an understanding of diet, which lends itself intuitively to being a major component of the environmental factors described, merits exploration.
Methods
We sought to develop a system of comparison between human epitopes implicated in seventy autoimmune diseases and the overlap between them and the epitopes found in various commonly consumed animals and plants. The aim of the comparison was to construct a comprehensive database of overlap to provide an index (Gershteyn-Ferreira index) of potential auto-immunogenicity of the various organismal proteins.
Results
The construction of the database utilized the automation of querying and recording the epitopes with the IEDB (Immune Database and Analysis Resource) system. We were able to create a comprehensive index for twenty four organism profiles. Our system personalizes the epitope overlap of the organisms per individual by integrating the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles of the subject and re-running the overlapping epitopes to filter for binding.
Conclusions
With this new system (Immunodietica), we can determine exact epitopes that could be responsible for presence or severity of autoimmune symptoms, as well as a personalized ‘heat-map’ of potential triggers for use by sufferers of autoimmune disorders.