Enzyme treatment of foodstuffs for celiac sprue
Administering an effective dose of glutenase to a Celiac or dermatitis herpetiformis patient reduces levels of toxic gluten oligopeptides, thereby attenuating or eliminating the damaging effects of gluten.
1. A composition, comprising:
isolated Myxococcus xanthus prolyl endopeptidase (PEP) consisting of the amino acid sequence forth in SEQ ID NO:47, admixed with gluten-containing food.
2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said isolated Myxococcus xanthus prolyl endopeptidase (PEP) comprising the amino acid sequence forth in SEQ ID NO:47 is provided in a unit dosage form containing an amount of the isolated Myxococcus xanthus PEP effective to cleave a gluten oligopeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:12 to fragments shorter than 8 amino acids and a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.
3. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the isolated Myxococcus xanthus PEP is a recombinant protein.
4. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the unit dosage form of isolated Myxococcus xanthus PEP is coated with an enteric coating.
5. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the amount of isolated Myxococcus xanthus PEP in the unit dosage form is 500 units to 20,000 units, wherein one unit is the amount of enzyme required to hydrolyze 1 μmol Cbz-Gly-Pro-pNA per min under specified conditions.
6. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the amount of isolated Myxococcus xanthus PEP in the unit dosage is from 0.1 mg to 500 mg.