In an article published on September 9, 2016 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Applied Toxicology, Datis Kharrazian and Aristo Vojdani from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, U.S., report on the potential mechanism of how bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) may trigger autoimmune disorders.
The scientists measured the levels of antibodies against BPA bound to albumin (a blood protein) in the blood of a hundred healthy individuals aged 18-65 years. They also measured the levels of antibodies to the two neuron-specific proteins, myelin basic protein (MBP) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), in the same blood samples, and found a highly significant positive correlation with BPA-albumin antibodies. MBP and MOG are known to be the immunological target sites for neuroinflammation and neurological autoimmune diseases. Increased levels of antibodies to these proteins have been found in autistic children and in people with chronic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease.
The authors suggest that BPA could be “a trigger for the production of antibodies against . . . MBP and MOG,” thus “immune reactivity to BPA bound to human tissue proteins may be a contributing factor to neurological autoimmune disorders.” However, the correlative findings reported in this study provide only the indirect evidence that BPA could be the cause of the production of these antibodies. Further research is needed to prove or disprove this hypothesis, and better understand the underlying mechanisms.
References
Kharrazian, D., and Vojdani, A., 2017. “Correlation between antibodies to bisphenol A, its target enzyme protein disulfide isomerase and antibodies to neuron-specific antigens.” Journal of Applied Toxicology 37: 479-484.
