Protective effects of mannan in Caco-2/TC7 cells treated with wheat-derived peptides

Celiac disease (CD) is characterized by a permanent intolerance to wheat gliadin and related proteins in genetically susceptible individuals. It is generally considered that CD is an immuno-mediated multifactorial disease, but a direct cytotoxic activity of gliadin-derived peptides (GL-PT) on intestinal mucosa cannot be excluded. Many efforts have been done to identify possible antagonists of this direct toxicity and several studies indicated that mannan and oligomers of N-acetylglucosamine, [N,N′-diacetylchitobiose (GLcNAc)2 and N,N′,N″;-triacetylchitotriose (GLcNAc)3], could be very promising candidates. present study we investigated the ability of mannan, (GLcNAc)2 and (GLcNAc)3 to interfere with some toxic effects exerted by GL-PT, as cell growth and viability impairment, increased intestinal permeability and cellular inflammation, on a clone of the human intestinal Caco-2 cell line, Caco-2/TC7, expressing a more homogeneous population than the parental one. esent results demonstrate that mannan, among the three molecules investigated, is the most suitable to counteract the adverse effects induced by GL-PT on Caco-2/TC7 cells, for all the parameters considered in this study.