Category: Research

1. Is there a pill available to combat coeliac disease?
2. Is there a vaccine for coeliac disease?
3. Is there a medical treatment for coeliac disease?

You'll find more information about research in the Archived Topics Forum and in the DHOC Blog.

1. Is there a pill available to combat coeliac disease?
   
   A team of investigators led by Stanford University (California) researchers have discovered the cause and a potential treatment for celiac sprue.
   
   In the September 27 2002 issue of Science, researchers identify a fragment of gluten called gliadin as the celiac culprit. They showed that this fragment is resistant to digestion and is responsible for the intestine-damaging inflammatory response experienced by celiac patients. They also report the use of a dietary enzyme made by a bacterium that can break down the fragment into harmless bits, suggesting future treatment through dietary supplements.
   
   "These findings are the first step to giving people with celiac disease real hope for a normal life," said Chaitan Khosla, PhD, professor of chemistry, chemical engineering and, by courtesy, of biochemistry. Lu Shan, a graduate student in Khosla's lab, was lead author on the paper. The team included other Stanford researchers as well as a group from the University of Oslo in Norway.
   
   (Source - Stanford University Medical Center and Science Daily - Sept 2002)
   
   
   
   
2. Is there a vaccine for coeliac disease?
   
   Oct 16 2002 - Scientists said on Wednesday they would soon begin developing a potential vaccine for coeliac disease, the common, debilitating complaint that forces sufferers to eat a gluten-free diet.
   
   The breakthrough follows work by a team at Oxford University who said they had identified the protein components in cereal crops responsible for the disorder which affects around one in every 100 people.
   
   Principal investigator Dr Robert Anderson, now based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, said the finding dramatically increased the possibility of developing a therapeutic vaccine.
   
   Anderson, who will give details at the Australian Gastroenterology Week conference in Adelaide on Thursday, said in a statement that Australian researchers would soon begin work on designing and testing the potential vaccine.
   
   The research confirms that almost all people with coeliac disease react to a common set of protein sequences in gliadin, part of the gluten protein in wheat, rye, and barley.
   
   "This opens the way for a specific diagnostic test for the disease as well as new prevention and treatment strategies, and even the possibilities of producing wheat that does not contain the rogue sequence," said BTG Plc BGC.L , the London-based technology transfer company which has bought the rights to the discovery.
   
   More than 90 percent of people diagnosed with coeliac disease have a gene known as HLA-DQ2, which facilitates the initiation of an immune response to gliadin.
   
   However, environmental factors also play a role and it is this aspect of the disease that researchers believe can be modified.
   
   Anderson said future research still needed to prove that a peptide, or small protein, could be used to desensitise or induce tolerance in people with coeliac disease.
   
   At present, the only approved treatment is lifelong avoidance of gluten in the diet. This can be difficult and costly for patients and there is always the risk of cross contamination during food processing.
   
   (Source - Reuters - Oct 2002)
   
   
   
   
3. Is there a medical treatment for coeliac disease?
   
   Researchers from Zengen, a California-based biopharmaceutical company, discovered that a synthetic form of alpha-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone (a-MSH) has an anti-inflammatory effect in celiac mucosa, the inside lining of the intestinal tract that absorbs food into the body. A naturally occurring molecule, a-MSH modulates inflammatory and immune responses.
   
   Data confirming the presence of a-MSH in celiac mucosa suggests the presence of a local reaction of the molecule to control the inflammatory response elicited by gliadin. Gliadin is the subfraction of gluten that acts as a toxin or poison in people with celiac disease; it causes an immune reaction, resulting in damage to the small intestine and an inability to digest and absorb nutrients necessary for health and growth (malabsorption).
   
   "Our research suggests that locally-produced a-MSH modulates inflammation and perhaps limits epithelial damage in patients with celiac disease," stated James M. Lipton, Ph.D, study investigator, chief scientific officer and director of Zengen.
   
   Dr Lipton added, "Clearly, if we can control the inflammatory responses that are a major part of celiac disease and limit the immunosuppression, this could lead to the first medical treatment to help the millions worldwide suffering from this genetic disease."
   
   (Source - The official journal of the International Society for Neuroimmunomodulation - 20 February 2003)