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>Can anyone tell
>me why the heat of cooking does not make gluten (or other antigenic
>proteins) more tolerable for celiacs?  I know that heat alters protein
>structure, but apparently not enough to eliminate the harmful properties of
>gluten.
 
Brett,
My understanding is that the antigenic portions of the gluten
proteins that induce the toxic antibodies are relatively short
strings of amino acids or peptides also known as linear or
continuous "epitopes". These structures can maintain their
conformation even when boiled in the presence of powerful
detergents and reducing agents, that destroy many of the intraprotein
bonds that stabelise overall protein structure.
Cheers
Roy
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Roy A. Hall, PhD
Senior Research Officer
Molecular Virology
Dept. of Microbiology,
University of Queensland
Brisbane. 4072. QLD
Australia
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