Celiac.com 03/19/2002 - For the past several years, Gary M. Gray, M.D. and Chaitan Khosla, Ph.D., both at Stanford University, have been studying the underlying causes of Celiac Disease, with an eye toward finding a therapeutic solution that would not require the strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. For the past two years, I have helped organize the Celiac conference at Stanford University; and we have collected blood from Celiac volunteers for their research. Based on a series of studies involving animal tissue, Drs. Gray, Khosla, and coworkers have developed a hypothesis for the cause of the disease. Their findings in animal studies need to be confirmed on human tissue, and any differences in normal and Celiac intestine must be defined. The Stanford researchers are now in need of volunteers who are scheduled for a follow-up biopsy as part of their optimal care to provide intestinal tissue samples. Volunteers must be biopsy-diagnosed Celiacs who, as part of their care, will be undergoing an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for recovery of small biopsies from the duodenum. For this research, two small (a few milligrams) of additional tissue will be taken during the biopsy, frozen immediately, and transported to Stanford. Please note that volunteers undergoing procedures at locations other than Stanford Hospital could participate. The small amount of additional tissue does not constitute a significant additional risk over and above that you will undergo due to the endoscopy and routine biopsies for the pathologist to examine. The research has been approved by the Human Subjects Committee at Stanford University Medical Center.

If you would like to participate in this study, please contact Kelly Rohlfs at 650-725-4771 or kellyr@bonair.stanford.edu.If you have questions concerning the risks and benefits of this study, please contact Dr. Gray at 650-725-3366 or gray@stanford.edu. Dr. Gray will coordinate the study with your gastroenterologist at the time of your endoscopy.