News for Coeliac Disease

News for Coeliac Disease

Dr Bob Anderson, head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research recruited more than 200 coeliac disease patients over nine years. The patients ate gluten products and six days later, their blood samples were taken. The strength of the patient’s immune response to 2700 different gluten peptides was measured. Ninety peptides were identified as causing an immune reaction, of which three were particularly toxic.

Gluten switches on the immune response in people with celiac disease, thereby damaging the lining of their small intestine which stops their ability to absorb nutrients. According to Dr Anderson, “these three components account for the majority of immune response to gluten that is observed in people with coeliac disease”. Presently, coeliac disease is treated by removing gluten from the diet.