A cure for coeliac disease could be found within the next decade, according to a Chicago-based professor who forms part of a team researching the condition.
“I think we will develop a vaccine to cure celiac disease in patients once and forever in about 10 to 12 years. That’s our expectation and our hope,” said Italian Professor Stefano Guandalini who set up the Coeliac Disease Centre within the University of Chicago in the US.
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition triggered by the ingestion of gluten – a protein mostly found in wheat, rye and barely – with a prevalence of nearly one per cent in Western populations.
When ingested, gluten triggers a series of events in the small intestine that hinders the absorption of nutrients. This results in several symptoms such as fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, lack of growth and anaemia. If left untreated it can lead to serious complications, including intestinal cancer.
It is not curable but can be managed by eliminating gluten from the diet. At the moment there are several strategies actively being pursued to find treatments, said Prof. Guandalini – a 67-year-old paediatric gastroenterologist who addressed two conferences organised by PR firm Narrative Structures to raise awareness about the disease.
Some research teams, he explained, were focusing on developing a pill that could help a person digest gluten. This could be available in about two years’ time and would allow coeliac patients to cope with small amounts of gluten.
Harvard University and the Chicago centre were working on finding a more long-term solution.
Prof. Guandalini’s Chicago team, led by Dr Bana Jabri, are the first to develop a mouse model.
“Nobody is born with coeliac disease. You are born with some genetic predisposition to it and then there are various environmental factors. It is not clear what changes from one day to the next. This is the goal of the mouse model,” he said.
Understanding what leads to the loss of tolerance means developing a cure. The repercussions could be more far-reaching since it could provide a model to cure other autoimmune conditions, such as Type 1 diabetes.
Prof. Guandalini explained that the prevalence of coeliac disease was increasing with many believing this was due to the hygiene hypotheses – babies were being kept in sterilised environments limiting their exposure to antigens (substance that cause the immune system to produce antibodies against them). This was hindering them from developing antibodies in the crucial first 15 months of their lives.
In Malta, like the rest of the world, awareness was increasing. But there still remained a lack of awareness among doctors what could lead to late diagnosis.
“Once diagnosed, patients have to think about what they put in their mouth, every single bite. It’s not an easy life. Gluten, you wouldn’t think, is everywhere. It’s not just in bread and pasta. You find it as a component of cured salami, in a can of beans,” he said.
“There is a lack of understanding by the general public that this is a fixation or food allergy. It’s not,” he said.