Effect of peanut allergens on human neuronal cells in vitro

Two highly regarded and growing fields of medicine being food allergies and neurodegenerative diseases exhibit an abundant array of research in the literature as separate discipline findings. Collectively, there are no cures for neurodegenerative disease or food allergy although it has recently been identified that peanut allergens are able to cross the intestinal epithelial cells in vitro providing valuable insight into the severity of their allergenic properties. Therefore, such soluble peanut allergens may be able to cross the blood brain barrier as well, which brings forth the question of the possible effects of peanut allergens on the inflammatory responses of human neuronal cells. This project involves well-established human neuronal cell cultures (BE (2)-M17 cells), cytokine analysis and proteomics techniques to identify novel candidates in response to total soluble peanut protein extract treatment. Interesting findings were revealed through SDS-PAGE gel proteomics and cytokines of interest were brought forth that can be investigated in future research. The answer to such a significant question may provide novel insights and mechanisms on neurodegeneration and a possible molecular link between neurodegenerative diseases and allergies which is currently lacking in the literature.