The mechanisms behind autoimmune reaction to nervous system antigens in autism are not understood. We assessed the reactivity of sera from 50 autism patients and 50 healthy controls to specific peptides from gliadin and the cerebellum. A significant percentage of autism patients showed elevations in antibodies against gliadin and cerebellar peptides simultaneously. For examining cross-reaction between dietary proteins and cerebellar antigens, antibodies were prepared in rabbits, and binding of rabbit anti-gliadin, anti-cerebellar peptides, anti-MBP, anti-milk, anti-egg, anti-soy and anti-corn to either gliadin-or cerebellarantigen-coated wells was measured. In comparison to anti-gliadin peptide binding to gliadin peptide at 100%, the reaction of anti-cerebellar peptide to gliadin peptide was 22%, whereas the binding of anti-myelin basic protein (MBP), anti-milk, anti-egg and anti-soy to gliadin was less than 10%.Further examination of rabbit anti-gliadin (EQVPLVQQ) and anti-cerebellar (EDVPLLED) 8 amino acid (AA) peptides with human serum albumin (HSA) and an unrelated peptide showed no binding, but the reaction of these antibodies with both the cerebellar and gliadin peptides was greater than 60%. This crossreaction was further confirmed by DOT-immunoblot and inhibition studies. We conclude that a subgroup of patients with autism produce antibodies against Purkinje cells and gliadin peptides, which may be responsible for some of the neurological symptoms in autism.

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Celiac disease and gluten-sensitive enteropathy are terms that have been used to refer to a disease process affecting the small bowel. However, evidence has been accumulated in literature demonstrating that gluten sensitivity or celiac disease can exist even in the absence of enteropathy, but affecting many organs. Based on overwhelming evidence, immunological pathogenesis has been demonstrated in the joint, the heart, thyroid, bone, and, in particular, the brain cerebellum and neuronal synapsin I. When blood samples of patients with celiac disease are tested against gliadin and different tissue antigens, in addition to gliadin antibody, a significant percentage of them exhibit elevation in antibodies against transglutaminase, heat shock protein, collagen, thyroid, myosin, endothelial cell, bone antigen (transglutaminase), myelin basic protein, cerebellar and synapsin. This elevation of autoantibodies in patients with celiac disease may result in neuroimmune disorders. In fact, in comparison to the general population, the incidence of various autoimmune disorders, including gluten ataxia, is increased up to 30-fold in patients with celiac disease. Therefore, immune evaluation of patients with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, in addition to gliadin and transglutaminase, should include antibody measurement against thyroglobulin, thyroid peroxidase, heat shock protein, bone transglutaminase, myelin basic protein, cerebellar peptide and synapsin. This novel laboratory approach to gluten sensitivity and autoimmunity may enable clinicians to detect markers of autoimmune diseases. Early identification of gluten sensitive and celiac disease patients and implementation of a gluten-free diet may result in significant improvement and control of associated diseases.

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Robert Rountree: I would like to start by hearing about how you got to where you are today. What was the trajectory of your educational and professional experience? You graduated from chiropractic school in 1981. That means it has been 38 years since you got that license. You have really come a long way since then! Tom O'Bryan: I went to the University of Michigan for undergrad. I think I was 19 at the time and I first read Prevention magazine, when it was a true health magazine, before it was sold to a pharmaceutical company and began advertising the benefits of drugs for different conditions. Jonathan Wright wrote case studies every month. I would read these case studies, and he had this very down-home, earthy kind of way of explaining medical conditions to patients in language they would understand and made sense to them. I did not realize until this interview that he was my first mentor on how to effectively communicate to patients. He would talk to this guy that had a condition, what were the symptoms and all that, and he recommended nutrition and diet and the guy would come back a few months later and he was much better. The references at the back of the article gave credibility to what he was talking about and it caught my interest. I said, "My gosh, there is really something to this holistic approach, that has science to validate it." I thought that was very interesting. The world that I was really in at the time, besides my studies, was the world of aikido. I had been lucky enough that the number-two guy in the world had come to Detroit to give a demonstration. He ultimately stayed and would have three to five classes per day, and a very special once a week by invitation only class called Kenshu, for a select group of the students. This man carried the direct unfiltered lineage of > 350 years of samurai in his family. These special weekly classes were on different concepts, one per week, of the samurai code of honor called Bushido. Dr. Rountree: So those were your formative yearsduring college, when you were studying aikido? Long before you went to chiropractic school? I would imagine that introduced you to a philosophy of how to approach health care. Dr. O'Bryan: That is exactly right. From there, I then went to Japan, and I lived in the world headquarters. I was a deshi. It was such an honor. On the surface it meant that I got to clean the toilets in the school, and whatever other menial tasks were assigned to me. I spent six months there and I was privileged to visit a number of the grand masters of different disciplines, jodo and kyodo and karate. I met some very famous grand masters. Dr. Rountree: Do you still do an aikido practice today? Dr. O'Bryan: Every day as a way of life. The whole premise of aikido is that you never fight force with force, it is that you deflect and allow the force to go in the direction it wants to go. That is what really attracted me. My girlfriend at the time, who became my wife later, was in a bad car accident when she was very young, and annually or so, she would have t...