Vaccine for Celiac Disease

A vaccine for celiac disease may be developed after the discovery of a peptide responsible for the immune response of the bowel disease that causes intolerance to gluten protein.
This reality is becoming closer due to the daily work of several research teams. One of the most advanced, Medical Research Institute Walter and Eliza Hall (Melbourne, Australia), noted in an article in what his project.
Celiac disease is a disorder that affects 1% of the population. Where those affected eat gluten, a protein naturally present in cereals such as wheat, barley or rye, and so manipulated in 80% of processed foods, causing intestinal inflammation. As explained by the experts, can cause diarrhea and vomiting. But eventually, if left untreated, this condition becomes chronic. So far, the most effective solution is to follow a gluten-free diet.
Meanwhile, researchers such as those involved in this study, published in ‘Science Translational Medicine’ , continue to progress with the goal to immunize those affected. How? After nine years working, Bob Anderson and a team of scientists from Australia and the UK have managed toidentify three fragments of gluten, the key in this disease, from which you can develop promising vaccine.
According to the authors of this paper, we recruited more than 200 celiac patients. They ate bread, rye and barley, and six days later, blood samples were drawn. The aim was to measure the immune response of participants to 2,700 different fragments of gluten. A total of 90 triggered reactions, but three of these peptides were particularly toxic and, therefore, relevant in this disease. “Involved in most immune responses of patients observed,” the researchers emphasize.
What these experts aim is to introduce, instead of a virus (as other vaccines such as influenza, for example), these three pieces of gluten, to make the body not identified as toxic and, therefore, the patient with celiac disease can tolerate all foods with or without gluten.
As concerns the article, and is a company that is taking advantage of this breakthrough for vaccine development. “Although the most advanced in this race is still very preliminaries phases, so one should be cautious and wait”, says one of the experts. He adds, “we must not forget that many more peptides responsible for celiac disease.”
So far, neither this nor other strategies under investigation are available even in clinical practice. Before, must demonstrate its advantages, its efficacy and safety compared to current treatment: gluten-free diet.