Roy Jamron

Sucrose Breath Test Kit

A new, simple and easy-to-use home  13C-Sucrose Breath Test to assess for leaky gut is now available. 

Photo: CC--INEEDCoffee.com

A synthetic stool substitute was recently used as part of a "proof-of-principle" study to successfully clear C. difficile infections in 2 patients via fecal transplant therapy.  A synthetic stool may lead the way to "off-the-shelf" fecal transplant therapy eliminating the need for individual healthy feces donors and screening tests.  An "off-the-shelf" synthetic stool would greatly facilitate large scale fecal transplant therapy studies and clinical trials.  Fecal transplant therapy for celiac disease could readily be investigated.

The Endocrine Society 92nd Annual Meeting

A new limited study concludes all children under 5 years of age should probably receive at least 1000 IU of vitamin D daily as opposed to the current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation of only 400 IU vitamin D daily.

Celiac disease is known to be triggered, at least in part, by environmental factors. These factors can even affect one identical twin and not the other and seem to have their greatest impact during infancy when gluten is first introduced to the diet. Gut flora makeup and vitamin D levels are 2 factors which differ in infants and could affect the development of the immune system in ways leading to celiac disease.

Previously, the possible link between gut bacteria and celiac disease has been discussed in "Do Vitamin D Deficiency, Gut Bacteria, and Gluten Combine in Infancy to Cause Celiac Disease?" A 5-year European study, DIABIMMUNE, is currently underway focusing on some 7000 children, from birth, investigating the development of intestinal bacterial flora and its influence on the development of the human immune system and autoimmune disease, including celiac disease. Hopefully, this study will provide some much needed answers. Now a Spanish group of scientists has produced further evidence supporting a possible role for gut bacteria in the pathogenesis of celiac disease by investigating whether gut microflora present in the feces of celiac disease patients participates in the pro-inflammatory activity of celiac disease.

Today in most modern countries, children are being raised in bacteria-free environments, yet studies are seeing a rising incidence of autoimmune disease and allergies. Previous studies have found that Finnish children are six times more likely to have type 1 diabetes and a five times higher rate of celiac disease than Russian children despite equal genetic susceptibility. Over-cleanliness and life-style may be promoting the higher prevalence of these disorders. A new European study will examine the influence of gut bacteria on autoimmune disease and allergies in developing children, including celiac disease.

Do vitamin D deficiency, gut bacteria, and timing of gluten introduction during infancy all combine to initiate the onset of celiac disease? Two recent papers raise the potential that this indeed may be the case. One paper finds that when transgenic mice expressing the human DQ8 heterodimer (a mouse model of celiac disease) are mucosally immunized with gluten co-administered with Lactobacillus casei bacteria, the mice exhibit an enhanced and increased immune response to gluten compared to the administration of gluten alone. A second paper finds that vitamin D receptors expressed by intestinal epithelial cells are involved in the suppression of bacteria-induced intestinal inflammation in a study which involved use of germ-free mice and knockout mice lacking vitamin D receptors exposed to both friendly and pathogenic strains of gut bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria caused increased expression of vitamin D receptors in epithelial cells. Friendly bacteria did not.

ActoGeniX is a recently formed Belgian company specializing in the development and use of genetically altered probiotic Lactococcus lactis bacteria designed to secrete and deliver therapeutic peptides and proteins to treat gastrointestinal disorders. Their product is called ActoBiotics™. Celiac disease is among the disorders ActoGeniX is currently investigating. Research has already shown efficacy in a celiac disease model where ActoBiotics™ continuously secrete small segments of gluten peptides to induce tolerance to gluten. Further research and trials are in the pipeline.

Researchers have found a 10mer durum wheat peptide capable of shifting a Th1 gluten-intolerant T cell response to a Th2 gluten-tolerant T cell response in intestinal T cell cultures derived from celiac disease children and incubated with deamidated gliadin peptides. Durum wheat peptides could potentially treat celiac disease by causing celiac disease associated T cells to react tolerantly to gluten.

A new confocal laser microscopic probe has been developed by Mauna Kea Technologies which works in conjunction with conventional endoscopes providing real-time video sequences of the intestinal mucosa magnified 500-1000 times greater than the conventional endoscopic view.

Researchers at the University of Chicago using vitamin D receptor "knockout" mice demonstrated vitamin D may have a key role in maintaining the intestinal mucosal barrier and the integrity of tight junctions.  The "knockout" mice were genetically altered to produce mice lacking vitamin D receptors normally expressed by cells in most body tissues.

Celiac.com 11/07/2006 – We should be hearing more about this in the news soon. A confocal...

Celiac.com 10/30/2006 - Two recent scientific publications have now shown that a rotavirus protein

Celiac.com 10/12/2006 - A new study examined Mayo Clinic medical records for the years 1970 through

Celiac.com 09/29/2006 - A new study identified a peptide which causes an immune reaction in a major

Celiac.com 09/12/2006 - Symptoms of celiac disease prominently include fat malabsorption. One would

Celiac.com 07/31/2006 - A two-year study in the July 2006 Endoscopy showed older celiac patients

Celiac.com 07/01/2006 - With the likelihood that increased intestinal permeability in celiacs

Celiac.com 05/31/2006 - I previously discussed how liver abnormalities are highly prevalent in celiac

Celiac.com 04/27/2006 - Liver abnormalities have been found in a high percentage of celiacs when