CONTRIBUTION OF THE ADJUVANT ACTIVITY OF ALUMINUM TO AUTOIMMUNITY
- Aristo Vodjani, United States of America
Abstract
Background and Aims
Introduction: Aluminum salts containing adjuvants, with or without HSA, have been used in vaccines for more than 70 years. The addition of aluminum to viral or bacterial antigens results in neoantigen formation. Increased consumption of processed foods is a major source of aluminum exposure, which makes the gut the main target of inflammation and autoimmunity. About 1% of ingested aluminum accumulates in the skeletal system and the brain, where aluminum induces the cross-linking of Aβ-42 peptide and the formation of amyloid aggregates that is observed in Alzheimer’s disease.
Methods
We used ELISA methodology to measure IgG antibody against HSA-bound aluminum compounds in 94 different sera from healthy controls and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s, celiac, mixed connective tissue and Alzheimer’s disease.
Results
Our results demonstrated that in control groups the mean OD of aluminum-HSA IgG antibody was 0.58. In comparison, the mean level of aluminum-HSA antibody was 0.96 for Crohn’s , 1.0 for celiac, 1.25 for Alzheimer’s, 0.61 for RA, and 0.57 for mixed connective tissue disease. The differences in antibody level against aluminum-HSA were highly significant for Crohn’s, celiac and Alzheimer’s disease, less significant for RA, and insignificant for mixed connective tissue disease.
Conclusions
We demonstrate extensive IgG reactivity against aluminum bound to HSA in the sera of patients with Crohn’s, celiac and Alzheimer’s disease, to a lesser degree with RA, and not in mixed connective tissue disease. We concluded that aluminum ingestion and absorption from the GI tract contributes to some of these diseases.