Latest Celiac Disease News & Research:: Articles on the Evolution and Origins of Celiac Disease

Evolutionary and Functional Analysis of Celiac Risk Loci Reveals SH2B3 as a Protective Factor against Bacterial Infection

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Celiac.com 06/15/2010 - A clinical team conducted a functional analysis of celiac risk loci, and found that SH2B3 offers protection against bacterial infection.

The team included Alexandra Zhernakova, Clara C. Elbers, Bart Ferwerda, Jihane Romanos, Gosia Trynka, Patrick C. Dubois, Carolien G.F. de Kovel, Lude Franke, Marije Oosting, Donatella Barisani, Maria Teresa Bardella, the Finnish Celiac Disease Study Group, Leo A.B. Joosten, Paivi Saavalainen, David A. van Heel, Carlo Catassi, Mihai G. Netea, and Cisca Wijmenga.

Celiac disease has a fairly high morbidity, yet it is prevalent in Western populations at rates of of 1%–2%. So far, scientists don't understand why the celiac disease phenotype is so common despite its obvious negative impact on human health. This is especially true when one considers that doctors only developed a gluten-free diet to treat celiac disease in the 1950's.

The research team scientists hypothesize that the high prevalence of celiac disease might suggest that the process of natural selection favors genes that trigger celiac disease, and thus, that the gene may convey some evolutionary advantage to those who inherit them.

The study group included 8,154 controls from four European populations, and 195 individuals from a North African population. By examining haplotype lengths using the integrated haplotype score (iHS) method, the team looked at selection signatures for ten confirmed celiac-associated loci in several genome-wide data sets.

They found consistent indications of positive selection for celiac-associated derived alleles in three loci: IL12A, IL18RAP, and SH2B3. For the SH2B3 risk allele, they also found a variation in allele frequency distribution (Fst) between HapMapphase II populations.

Functional investigation of the effect of the SH2B3 genotype in response to lipopolysaccharide and muramyl dipeptide showed that carriers of the SH2B3 rs3184504*A risk allele provided more robust triggering of the NOD2 recognition pathway.

This suggests that SH2B3 plays a role in protection against bacteria infection, and it provides a possible explanation for the selective sweep on SH2B3, which occurred sometime between 1,200 and 1,700 years ago.

Source:

Open Original Shared Link

Is Celiac Disease America's Most Under-diagnosed Health Problem?

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Celiac.com 03/04/2009 - Millions of people currently suffer from a potentially deadly condition that can have little or no symptoms, but is easily diagnosed and treated. The condition is called celiac disease, and it is caused by an adverse autoimmune reaction to gliadin (found in wheat gluten), secalin (found in rye gluten), or horedin (found in barley gluten). Because of the broad range of symptoms that celiac disease can present, and the fact that many people will have no symptoms at all, it can often be very difficult for those who do have it to get properly screened for the disease.

According to Dr. Alessio Fasano, medical director of the Center forCeliac Research, 2.5 million to 3 million people in the USA have celiac disease—it istwice as common as Crohn’s disease, ulceric colitis and cystic fibrosiscombined—yet, to date, no more than 150,000 of them have beendiagnosed. This means that a full 2.35 to 2.85 million people in the USA have not been diagnosed and treated.

Open Original Shared LinkThe symptoms of the disease can range from no symptoms at all, to mild weakness, bone pain, aphthousstomatitis (canker sores), chronic diarrhea, abdominal bloating, and progressiveweight loss. If people with celiac disease continue to eat gluten, studies show that their risk of gastrointestinal cancer increases by a factor of 40 to 100 times over the general population. Further, gastrointestinal carcinoma or lymphoma develops in up to 15 percent of patients with untreated or refractory celiac disease. It is thus essential that the disease be quickly diagnosed and treated.

The last decade has seen an explosion in the understanding and awareness of celiac disease and in higher standards and increased availability of gluten-free foods.

To help us better appreciate the dramatic changes and developments that have taken place, Celiac.com has put together a list of historical landmarks in the understanding and treatment of celiac disease. A glance at the time line will show that it really has taken centuries just to recognize and diagnose celiac disease, with the greatest strides being made in the last fifty years, and especially in the last decade.

A Celiac Disease / Gluten-Free Diet Historical Timeline:

100 A.D.—The first written account of celiac symptoms in western medicine occurs when the Greek Physician, Aretaeus the Cappadocean, known as Galen, describes the characteristic stool, noting that the disease was more common in women than men and that children can also be affected.
1669—The Dutch physician Vincent Ketelaer publishes a book that contains an account of a diarrheal illness in which he notes feces so voluminous that, "several basins or pots scarcely hold these accumulations."
1737—John Bricknell writes of patients who suffer from what he terms the "white flux.” Both Ketelaer and Bricknell were likely describing celiac disease, though that name would not be attached it for another century and a half.
1887—Dr. Samuel Gee ushers in the modern era of celiac disease, when he drew attention to the disorder in a lecture delivered at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London.
1888—Dr. Gee publishes his classic paper, "On the Coeliac Affection,” in which he describes aspects of the celiac disease with great accuracy and suggests that, "if the patient can be cured at all, it must be by means of diet.” He experimented with various diets and noted that children who were fed a quart of the best Dutch mussels daily, throve splendidly, but relapsed when the season for mussels ended.
1889—R.A. Gibbons, MD., M.R.C.P. publishes Open Original Shared Link in the Edinburgh Medical. Journal.
1908—British Physician Christian Herter becomes the first to discover that celiac disease can cause stunted growth, especially among children in their middle years.
1921—British Physician John Howland devises the healthy, three-stage diet for celiac patients known as the milk/protein diet.
1932—Danish physician Thorwald Thaysen provides the first clinical explanation of celiac disease in adults, though he lacks detailed knowledge on intestinal pathology for a full understanding of the disease.
1936—Dutch pediatrician Willem Karel Dicke isolates cereal grains as the factor in aggravating the symptoms of celiac disease, especially in children, and begins treating children with the gluten-free diet. Afterwards his Ph.D. thesis was published and he was laughed out of the NYC gastroenterology meeting in 1950 and vowed not to return to the USA.
1954—Experimenting with surgical biopsy material, Doctor J. W. Paulley makes the first discovery of the intestinal lesions caused by celiac disease in patients.
1955—Margo Shiner invents the tiny biopsy tube that is still used today for confirming the presence of celiac disease in the small intestines. The important celiac disease discoveries of Paulley and Shiner meant that, from the mid 1950s onwards, doctors had a means by which to reliably diagnose the disease. Their discoveries gave rise to an explosion in the understanding of celiac disease that continues to this day.
1965—Dermatologists recognize that people suffering from the itchy skin rash, dermatitis herpetiformis, have an abnormal jejunal biopsy just like those with celiac disease and that the rash usually subsides with the observance of a gluten-free diet.
1970—In the early 1970s, researchers identify genetic markers for celiac disease. Even though the gene or genes that cause celiac disease have not been identified, researchers remain hopeful that they will succeed in doing so, and thereby give rise to a new generation of celiac treatments that do not require a gluten-free diet.
1980s—Fiber optic technology enables doctors to take small bowel biopsies using fiber-optic endoscopes, while the development of reliable screening blood tests greatly increases the number of celiac diagnosis.
1981—The Open Original Shared Link establishes the earliest standards for gluten-free food. Under this original standard, foods labeled “gluten-free” must be made from naturally gluten-free grains, such as corn or rice or from gluten grains (wheat, barley, rye) that had been rendered gluten free through processing. At the time, there was no way to test for the presence of gluten, so tests gauged the levels of gluten by measuring nitrogen levels, an imprecise method.
~1985—It is discovered that gliadin initiate damage to the absorptive epithelium of the small intestine toproduce symptoms of celiac disease in susceptible individuals.
1990s—Early in the decade, doctors thought celiac disease to be rare and affect just 40,000 or so Americans. Over the last decade or so, the number of Americans diagnosed with celiac disease has nearly tripled, to 110,000, but that’s just the start. The National Institutes of Health now estimates that about 1% of the population, or about 3 million people suffer from celiac disease, and that only about 3% of existing cases have been diagnosed. A full 97% of celiac cases remain undiagnosed. That’s about 2.9 million people who remain undiagnosed and in danger. More and more of those who are diagnosed are reporting no symptoms.
1995—In San Francisco, California, Scott Adams launches the Web site that evolves into Celiac.com, the first website on the Internet dedicated solely to celiac disease. The site quickly evolves into one of the most authoritative, informative, and comprehensive sources for celiac disease and gluten-free diet information. The celiac.com forum is one of the most popular places on the web for people with celiac disease to get answers and share information.
1998—Codex Alimentarius revises its standards for foods labeled ‘gluten-free’ to be made from naturally gluten-free ingredients and contain 20 parts gluten per million, or less, while foods processed to be reduce gluten, such as wheat starch, can have no more than 200 parts per million gluten.
1998—Open Original Shared Link (www.GlutenFreeMall.com) launches its "Special Diet Superstore!" to provide home delivery of top quality foods and other products that are free of wheat, rye and barley gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, corn, and other common allergens. The Gluten-Free Mall now sells thousands of gluten-free products including breads, cookies, cakes, pizzas, mixes, full meals, frozen foods, cosmetics, gluten-free guides, books, and more.
1997 to 2007, the number of people under-18 diagnosed with food or digestive allergies rises nearly 20%, and nearly 3 million people young people now suffer from food allergies. About 12 million Americans suffer from a food allergy, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, with nearly 90% of all food allergies arising from reactions to just eight foods: Cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, soy and wheat.
Since 2004, food retailers have added nearly 2500 new gluten free products to their shelves.
2000—Open Original Shared Link, which is a protein that participates in tight junctions between cells of the wall of the digestive tract.
2003—Alessio Fasano, MD, publishes his seminal study in the Archives ofInternal Medicine that indicates that 1 in 133 people in the USA haveceliac disease.
2007—Studies show a high instance of arthritis and osteoporosis in people with celiac disease, and other studies show a high prevalence of celiac disease among people with type-1 diabetes.
2008—A team of researchers works to develop a simple saliva test after concluding that it is possible to accurately measure salivary tTG-Abs; both at initial diagnosis for celiac disease, and also while patients are following a gluten-free diet.
2008—Rates of celiac disease are shown to be 2.5 times higher among elderly people than among the general population.
2009—Canada debuts the Open Original Shared Link as part of its national health care plan.
2009—The company Nexpep is currently preparing for a clinical trial program for a peptide-based therapeutic vaccine, and intends to commence a Phase 1 in the first half of 2009. According to Nexpep, the peptide-based therapeutic vaccine is designed to treat the main problem T-cell epitopes of gluten, and has the potential to treat at about 80% of people with celiac disease and the appropriate genetic background.
2009—Sometime this year the USFDA is expected to adopt long awaited regulations for the use of the term "gluten-free" on USA food labels. The new regulation would require foods with "gluten-free" on their labels to contain less than 20 parts per million of gliadin.
Several pharmaceutical companies are currently working on treatments for celiac disease, such as Alvine Pharmaceuticals (enzyme therapy), and Alba Therapeutics is developing a zonulin receptor antagonist called AT-1001, which is currently in phase 2 clinical trials.
2012—All food made in the E.U. with ‘gluten-free’ on its label must contain less than 20 parts per million of gliadin, in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius standards.

Why So Many Intolerant To Gluten ? - by Luigi Greco, D.C.H., M.Sc.(MCH), M.D., Department of Pediatrics, University of Naples 06/30/1995

Fri, 26 Jul 1996 00:00:00 +0000

We have recently reported on Lancet (1) a consistent cohort of patients affected by drug-resistant epilepsy with cerebral calcifications, half of which were cured by a gluten-free diet. All had an atrophic jejunal mucosa, which recovered on a gluten free diet. Gluten intolerance is now a recognized cause of brain calcifications and epilepsy, of dementia, of psychiatric disturbances: many researchers believe that, in genetically predisposed subjects, gluten is not healthy for the brain function (2).

This is just too much.

Having had over 25 years of variegated experience with gluten intolerance I find hard to imagine that the single most common food intolerance to the single most diffuse staple food in our environment might provoke such a complexity of severe adverse immune-mediated reactions in any part of the human body and function. The list is endless, but malignancies, adverse pregnancy outcome and impaired brain function are indeed complications above the tolerable threshold of this food intolerance.

On the other end today we know very well that the majority (as many as 9 to 1) of gluten intolerant subjects, identified by familial or population screening, do not manifest any complaint, although they do have a flat intestinal mucosa (3).

In conclusion a sizable proportion of our population (from 0.3 to 1%) is gluten intolerant and reacts with a wide spectrum of symptoms from no apparent reaction to severe life-threatening diseases.

This intolerance is strongly linked to specific genetic markers which have indeed required thousands years to develop and be selected: the 'population genetic' time is of this dimension, while the changes in the environment and in the food we eat, require centuries or less.

Where did they come from?

Hunters, Fishers and Gatherers

Human beings have been on Earth for over 3 millions year, but Homo Sapiens Sapiens, our nearest parent, is only 100,000 years old. For ninety thousand years he conducted a nomadic life getting food by hunting, fishing and collecting fruits, seeds, herbs and vegetables from nature. Only quite recently (about 10.000 years ago) did some nomadic tribes start to have stable settlements because they developed the ability to gather enough food to be stored. The cultivation of wild seeds begun.

Ten thousand years ago the last glaciation came to an end: a Neo-thermal period ensued which marked the passage from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic age. Ices melted gradually from the equator to the poles over several thousands years when new fertile and humid lands were uncovered in South East Asia all of Europe was still covered with ice and Northern Countries had to wait up to 4000 years more to get out from a frozen environment.

The Great Revolution: The First Farmers

The discovery in the Neolithic age of ways to produce and store food has been the greatest revolution mankind ever experienced. Passage from collection to production originates the first system in which human labor is transferred onto activities which produced income for long periods of time. The principle of property was consolidated and fortifications to protect the land and food stores were developed.

Archeological findings suggest that this revolution was not initiated by the man hunter and warrior, but by the intelligent observations made by the woman. The woman carried the daily burden of collecting seeds, herbs, roots and tubers. Most probably she used a stick to excavate roots and tubers: during this activity she observed the fall of grain seeds on the ground and their penetration into the soil with rain. She may have been surprised to find new plants in the places which she herself dug with a stick, and made the final connection between fallen seeds and new 'cultivated' plants.

She was, for thousands years, the sole leader of the farming practices and provided a more and more consistent integration to the scanty products of the man hunter (6).

To our actual knowledge, the origin of farming practices should be located in the 'Fertile Crescent': the wide belt of South East Asia which includes Southern Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon and North Iraq. In the highlands of this area abundant rainfall was caused by the neo-thermal switch. In all of this area existed, and still exists, a wide variety of wild cereals, sometimes in natural extended fields, induced by the rainfalls. Triticum Dicoccoides (wheat) and Hordeum Spontaneum (barley) were common and routinely collected by the local dwellers. The wild cereals had very few seeds (2-4) which fell easily on the ground on maturation.

The people from the Uadi el-Natuf Tell of South East Asia (7800 B.C.) provided the first traces of the gradual shift from hunters to grain cultivators. Their economy was based on the hunt of the gazelle, but their diet also included collected grain seeds. These gradually came to form a substantial proportion of their energy input, as cultivation practices ensued. There were no grinding stones or mills and it was most probable that gathering prevailed on cultivation. But during the Proto-Neolithic superior a cuneiform mortar appeared. 1000-2000 years later (5000 B.C.) wild animals, more rare due to incoming drought, formed only 5% of the daily diet, while cereals and farmed animals become a sizable part of it (4).

Stable settlements were founded: the village of Catal-Huyuk in Southern Turkey had a population of 5000 inhabitants 9000 years B.C. In that area a collection of sickles was found with inserted oxidian blades, smoothed by the routine contact with the siliceous stalk of cereals. The sickles indicate that it was possible to collect seeds not only by picking on the ground, but also by cutting stems of plants which were capable of retaining the seed in an ear (5). 'Mesopotamic' populations, originated in the first farmers, developed a great civilization with large cities and powerful armies to defend their land property and food stores. In Egypt a civilization based on farming practices developed in the 5th millennium: they became specialists in the cultivation of wheat, barley (to produce beer) and flax.

The Expansion Of The Farmers

While in South East Asia the progressive drought made hunting difficult and encouraged farming, in Europe the Paleolithic culture of hunters and gatherers persisted for 5000 years more, gradually transforming into the Mesolithic age.

In the 'Fertile Crescent' the availability of food stores and the gradual development of animal farming stimulated an unprecedented demographic explosion. The nuclear family had had a small dimension for hundreds thousands of years: the birth rate had been limited by nomadic life. In transmigrations the mother had been able to carry one infant, while the others had been obliged to walk and move on their own. Small babies in between had less chances of surviving. Thus mankind remained of approximately the same size during entire ages.

Farmers, on the contrary, were settlers, possessed food stores and most probably took advantages in the farming practices of more hands in the family. In this manner the family size exploded and, as a result, a progressive continuous need to gain more lands ensued.

The farmer's expansion lasted from 9000 B.C. up to the 4000 B.C. when they reached Ireland, Denmark and Sweden covering most cultivable lands in Europe. The expansions followed the waterways of Mediterranean and of Danube across the time of Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans (7).

The farmers' expansion was not limited to the diffusion of the agricultural practices, but was a 'demic' expansion: that is a substantial replacement of the local dwellers, the Mesolithic populations of Europe, by the Neolithic from South East Asia. More than 2/3 of our actual genetic inheritance originated in this new population, while the native genetic background has been progressively lost or confined to isolated geographical areas.

The genetic replacement of the native European population is marked by the B8 specificity of the HLA system. Cavalli Sforza and coworkers showed that the migration of farmers is paralleled by the diffusion of B8. The frequency of B8 is inversely proportional to the time length of wheat cultivation. In practice B8 appears to be less frequent in populations which have lived on wheat for a longer time, as it is caused by a negative genetic selection in wheat cultivators (7). We are aware that in Ireland, where the wheat cultivation came only 3000 years B.C., a very high frequency of gluten intolerance has been reported.

The Evolution Of Cereals

The early wild cereals, of the Triticum (wheat) and Hordeum (barley) species were genetically diploid and carried few seeds, which usually fell on the ground at maturation, making any harvest very difficult. A chromosomes in single couples (diploidicity) allowed for a wide genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity with remarkable variations in the content of protein and starches. Poliploid plants occasionally originated in nature, but they had few chances to survive, without artificial (cultivation) practices and were usually lost (8).

The beginning of farming, with the use of irrigation, allowed the survival, and the expansion, of poliploid grains. But the new poliploid grains had substantially reduced genetic variations (since each gene is represented in several copies) and more frequently autoimpollinate themselves, causing remarkable increase of the genetic uniformity.

The first stable formation of poliploid grains is dated around 6000 years B.C.: the genetic uniformity caused a considerable rise in stability and yield, convincing the early farmer to induce a progressive and rapid replacement of the wild species.

Genetic variability of grains was essential in order to adapt the plant to the very different environmental conditions of different areas, but the yield was generally low (9).

Triticum Turgide Dicoccoides was crossed with Triticum Fanschii to originate the Triticum Aestivum, which is the progenitor of all our actual wheat. The Aestivum is an esaploid wheat with 42 chromosomes, versus the 14 of the T. Monococcum. Such powerful grain replaced all existing varieties to the point where genetic variability nowadays is lost: over the world we have 20,000 cultivated species of the same unique T. Aestivum wheat. The Triticum Turgidum Dicoccoides, progenitor of the actual 'durum' wheat with which pasta is made, had just few seeds encapsulated into a pointed and twilled kernel: at maturation the seeds fell on the soil and penetrated into it with rain, eased by the arrow-shaped structure of the kernel.

Ten thousand years ago it was difficult to pick them up: hence the attempt, made by the Neolithics, to select varieties which could retain the seed longer, in order to allow for an harvest.

Genetic variability was already substantially reduced in Roman times: 'farrum', i.e. spelt, (T. Dicoccoides) and 'Siligo' (T. Vulgaris) were the common grains. Siligo was used for bread making and contained a certain amount of gluten, while spelt, used mainly for soups, was poorer in gluten content (10).

But cultivation of wheat and barley was not started or diffused in the whole world: only a small geographic area (South East Asia) developed gluten-containing cereals. In Asia rice was the cultivated species, while in America maize prevailed and in Africa sorghum and millet. All these plants were present in nature and were gradually cultivated in the places of origin (7).

In our part of the world grains had for centuries been selected in order to improve their homogeneity and productivity, but soon (Roman times or before?) another desirable quality was preferred: the ability to stick, to glue up a dough to improve bread making. Early bread making activities pushed towards grains that contained greater amounts of a structural protein which greatly facilitated the bread making: the gluten. Gluten was not chosen because of its, at the time unknown, nutritional value (which is not absolutely special, since it is a protein with relatively low nutritional value), but for its commercial qualities.

Rice, maize, sorghum, millet do not contain gluten: no leavened bread was prepared with them: the majority of mankind never lived on bread, as we do know it.

Over the last 200 years of our modern age active genetic selection, and actual genetic manipulation, have changed the aspect of the original Triticacee enormously: from few grains and little gluten to great wheat harvests very enriched in gluten (50% of the protein content), well adapted to cultivation practices and ready to be handled by monstrous machinery.

The Rise Of The Intolerance To Gluten

Did everybody adapt to such profound changes in the basic nutrition over such a short period of time? South Eastern populations, presumably well adapted to the new foods, grossly replaced the existing Mesolithic European dwellers who still lived on hunting and gathering. But a proportion of the local populations (or, rather, of their inheritance ) persisted beside the invaders. The feeding changes were not well tolerated by everybody.

The best similar example is lactose intolerance: populations that have more recently adapted to milk consumption, still lack the genetic ability to digest lactose over the infancy period. Environment has changed centuries before any change in the inheritance may have been possible.

Similarly a considerable proportion of the hunters and gatherers of the pre-Neolithic ages have not fully adapted to the great feed changes induced by the cultivation of wheat. These people could not recognize gluten as a 'tolerable' protein available for digestion and absorption: they may have not have any problem or complaint for centuries, since the content of gluten in the grains was very low, but when 'industrial' quantities of gluten were induced by selection of wheat in order to improve bread making, they were exposed to unbearable quantities of an 'intolerable' protein or peptide.

This population, genetically identifiable today by their specific HLA pattern, did not recognized, through their HLA system, the gluten peptide as a tolerable item, but, because of the similarity of some sequences of gliadin peptides with several pathogenic viruses, they generate a complex defense mechanism (an immune response) which does not eventually find the pathogen to destroy, and most probably activate an auto-immune response which ultimately is the origin of the damage to their intestine and other organs.

These fierce descendants of hunters and fishers, exposed to this subtle enemy, could not develop the defense of tolerance and, in the attempt to fight the unknown, they ultimately develop a disease due to excess defense. For centuries they underwent a negative selective pressure, with less chances to survive, and then to be manifest (11).

In the last millennium gluten-intolerant children mostly had a harsh time behind them: after weaning, malabsorption and malnutrition were the underlying causes of poor defense to infections during infancy and early childhood. Acute infectious diarrhea was the main killer of infants up to 50 years ago in Europe and up to 15 babies every thousand died for this condition. In the suburbs of Naples, only 25 years ago, infectious diarrhea was the main killer (25% on an infant mortality rate of 100 per thousands live births) (12).

The vast majority of gluten intolerance occurred among these poor infants. In my own clinical experience 25 years ago I observed several fatal gastrointestinal infections in babies with the 'celiac crisis', which has now disappeared from our wards.

Few chances to survive, few intolerant children that reached the reproductive age, and become capable of transmitting the intolerance, few adult cases. Then gluten intolerance may have become extinct, as was in fact the case with several other pathogenic conditions? Not at all.

The intolerance most probably had some selective advantage which counterbalanced the gluten intolerance: it is possible to suggest that it was their very effective HLA Class II system that gave them a selective advantage against infections, which compensated the disadvantage due to gluten intolerance.

When, in the last 50 years, infantile infections greatly diminished, the descendants of the hunters and gatherers with very active immune-defense, 'over reacted' more frequently to the gluten than to their ordinary enemy. Hence the rise of the cohort that now appears to manifest, in different manners, a gluten intolerance.

However, not all populations of the world were ever exposed to such a nasty protein: the vast majority of mankind, after the development of agriculture, lived on maize, rice, sorghum and millet, tubers: all gluten free. All of them did not underwent the selective pressure of gluten intolerance and they may in fact have been the reservoir of wild genes.

Finally, breast feeding most probably played a major role in preserving some children from the fatal infection of infancy (13). The capacities of breast milk to protect against viral and bacterial attack, the protection given by maternal antibodies and the delaying effect on the manifestation of symptoms of gluten intolerance (in the predisposed subjects) may all have protected the hunters and gatherers, who in this manner avoided to develop fatal symptoms and managed to survive and transmit their genes to our population.

Hints On The Epidemiology Of Gluten Intolerance

The epidemiology of gluten intolerance, as we know it today, is the complex result of the apparition of the population of hunters and gatherers in our modern world.

As the cohort of those born before the World War II had few chances to survive infancy, we nowadays have few adult cases and few long term complications. Where the intolerance is still manifested mainly in the classical way (infants and small children, malabsorption, diarrhea, often switched on by an infection) we do not frequent encounter 'atypical' presentations and adult cases or long term complications. In this case the epidemiological calculations on observed cases made by gastroenterologist may be in great contrast with those made by pediatricians. On the contrary the rarity of 'classical' cases, which has been used as the proof of the 'disappearance' of gluten intolerance, is counterbalanced by the presence of atypical and late diagnosis, where actively searched for.

Finally nutritional attitudes have played a major role with regard to the chances for hunters to manifest themselves in different age groups: the example of Sweden as compared to the nearest Denmark or Finland is paradigmatic (14).

As shown by Maki et al, the ability to identify atypical cases may completely change the observed epidemiological pattern in a given region. Hence the reason for the 'iceberg': most cases still to be discovered (15). Similarly, population-based screening programs uncover more 'silent' than overt cases (3).

Nevertheless, the 'cohort effect', regional differences and so on, have up to now failed to overcome the limits of numbers: when local incidence rates are compared with other regions' rates, the 95% Confidence Intervals of the rates are very often so wide to contain the all lot of observed rates. No clear-cut statistical difference has really been shown in the incidence of gluten intolerance in Europe (16).

Wherever extensive studies on symptomatic cases have been run an incidence of 1 case per each 1000 live births has been reached, but very often the incidence has been much lower: up to 1 cases every 250 live births. Population screening studies invariably come to an incidence rate of 1 every 250. This is very close to the rate predicted by age-adjusted incidence density studies (17). Recent reports indicate an incidence close to 1 case per every 100 live births, but this finding needs confirmation.

Gluten Sensitive Versus Gluten Intolerant

But the epidemiology of gluten intolerance, which entails the tracing of a group of our ancestors, may completely change once we consider the increasing knowledge about the 'gluten-sensitive' individuals. 6 to 10% of first degree relatives of known cases themselves are gluten intolerant and have a flat intestinal mucosa (these are silent cases), but up to 30% of sibs of cases, when challenged with a dose of gluten (or its digest) activates a specific mucosal immune-response (with increase in intraepithelial infiltration and activation of T-Cells), without having any sign of mucosal damage (potential cases?) (18).

We may, in the near future, have a substantial group of individuals who do not activate, in presence of gluten, a 'pathogenic' immune response (auto-immunity), but who recognize gluten as a 'suspect' protein in the same way as their peers really intolerant.

Finally gluten intolerance is indeed linked to a specific genetic predisposition: most probably at least two genetic loci are involved in running the risk of intolerance.

How many possess these specific genetic risk at a 'carrier' state? Certainly more than 5% of the actual population. In conclusion we have a wide population of 'gluten-reactants' in Europe (EC): at least 1 million cases of total intolerance to gluten - an estimated similar amount of 'gluten sensitive' people - 10-15 times more 'carriers' of the risk of becoming gluten intolerant.

So we have found our ancestral hunters and gatherers: they are a substantial proportion of our actual community and do deserve a 'gluten-free' alternative not only as a therapeutic mean, but as an option of our daily life.

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Maki M, Holm K, Ascher H, Greco L.: Factors affecting clinical presentation of coeliac disease: role of type and amount of gluten containing cereals in the diet. In "Common Food Intolerances 1: Epidemiology of Coeliac Disease", Auricchio S, Visakorpi JK, editors, Karger, Basel, 1992, pp 76-83.
Maki M, Kallonen K, Landeaho ML, Visakorpi JK.:Changing pattern of childhood coeliac disease in Finland. Acta Paediatr Scand 1988; 77:408-412.
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Magazzu, Bottaro G, Cataldo F, Iacono G, Di Donato F, Patane R, Cavataio F, Maltese I, Romano C, Arco A, Totolo N, Bragion E, Traverso G, and Greco L: "Increasing Incidence of childhood celiac disease in Sicily: results of a multicentric study" Acta Paediatr, 83:1065-1069, 1994.
Troncone R, Greco L, Mayer M, Mazzarella G, Maiuri L, Congia M, Frau F, De Virgiliis S, Auricchio S.: "In half of Siblings of Coeliac Children rectal gluten challenge reveals gluten sensitivity not restricted to coeliac HLA.

The Celiac Affection in Children (1) - Edinburgh Med. Journ., Vol. XXXV.-NO.IV., Oct. 1889, pp. 321-330

Fri, 26 Jul 1996 00:00:00 +0000

By R.A. Gibbons, MD., M.R.C.P., Physician to The Grosvenor Hospital for Women and Children, Physician for the Diseases of Women and Children at the St. George's and St. James's Dispensary.

Footnote: (1) This title is adopted by Dr. Gee, who was the first to direct my attention to the disease, at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and I have therefore thought it best to retain it.

The subject of this paper is one which has not been described, to my knowledge, in any of the text-books, either on general medicine or on the diseases of children. As it is one of great importance, and one which is readily overlooked, even by excellent physicians, I have thought that it would be of interest to publish a few of the cases which have come under my own observation of this somewhat uncommon disease. These cases are very similar, and it is therefore unnecessary to burden my paper with more than four, which will serve as examples of all.

The name "coeliac" is derived from the Greek Koilia, which means belly. The "coeliac flux" is a well-known and o1d expression signifying diarrhea, in which the undigested food is passed from the bowel. The name of the affection under consideration does not necessarily imply diarrhea, and is taken for want of a better one; it means merely that the disease pertains to the abdomen. It has, however, the merit of not conveying anything actually erroneous. The disease is not distinctly a diarrhea although undoubtedly children suffering from this affection are liable to attacks of diarrhea. In the latter affection, if the larger bowel is affected, we get dysenteric symptoms; if the smaller bowel is the seat of the trouble, it is generally considered that we have three different conditions affecting it, namely, increased movement, increased secretions, or a diseased condition of the mucous membrane. The coeliac affection corresponds with neither of these conditions, as will presently be shown.

The following cases are epitomized from notes taken of some of the patients who have been under my care in private practice:

Case I -- J.F., a boy, aged 2 years, was first seen on the 26th of April 1883 (1)

He was lying in his nurse's lap, looking flushed, and complaining of pain over the abdomen. He had been languid and vomiting during the morning. I ascertained that the motions had been copious, frothy, and offensive. He had been latterly losing flesh. As to the previous history, I learned that the child had been brought up by hand, and there was nothing of importance to relate until last December, since which time he had been out of health, and seemed to be gradually getting worse. In that month they had sought advice, and he had caused his parents anxiety ever since, sometimes being a little better, at other times worse. On examination I found that the temperature was over 99, the pulse 108; but no definite disease could be made out. The examination of the chest yielded nothing. The abdomen was soft and doughy, but painful to the touch, and he cried out when any attempt was made to palpate. The spleen and liver were not enlarged, and I could detect no enlarged lymphatic glands. The flesh was soft and flabby. As he was having rather frequent actions of the bowels, a mixture of bismuth and compound tincture of camphor was ordered.

His diet consisted of cream, with two or three times as much water or scalded whey. For a drink at breakfast, at 11 o'clock in the morning, and at bedtime, whey made wit essence of rennet; if mixed with cream, it was to be scalded. Pounded raw meat prepared in the ordinary way, and rubbed through a sieve; of this one, two, or three tablespoonfuls to be taken for dinner, with a little sifted sugar or fruit jelly. A tablespoonful of mashed floury potato. Rusks, plain biscuits, or toast with fresh butter; Savory & Moore's food made with whey, and a teaspoonful of cream added. Half a pint of asses' milk in the morning, and the same quantity- in the evening. One or two teaspoonfuls of raw meat in the after part of the day. The following day I carefully examined some motion microscopically, and could detect no pus and nothing extraordinary.

Family History:-- The mother was a healthy woman. She had had no miscarriage.

She had no history of any important disease. There was no trace of tubercle on her side. Her mother suffered occasionally from gout. The child's father appeared a healthy man; he occasionally passed free uric acid, and had symptoms rather like those of renal calculus. There was no history of syphilis obtainable, and no reason to suspect it. There were two other children, a boy and girl, older than this patient. The girl had suffered from suppuration of the submaxillary glands.

The child improved considerably until 5th July, when he had an attack of watery- diarrhea, which prostrated him. The motions were extremely offensive. Dr. Gee saw him with me, and suggested, instead of the compound kino powder, which he was taking, that he should have minute doses of mercury and chalk every two hours; forty-eight hours later the diarrhea had stopped. Without going further into detail, it may be stated that this attack nearly proved fatal. He, however, gradually recovered, the first favorable sign being that the motion contained some solid material. There was no change in the diet, except that the meat was omitted and Brand's essence substituted.

The following month left London for the seaside. He occasionally had attacks of diarrhea there. Six months afterwards I again saw him, when he seemed in excellent spirits, looked fat, and, although flabby, ran about and played with the other children with apparent enjoyment.

This boy died of acute purpura haemorrhagica, the details of which illness I have already published in the Medical Times and Gazette for 1885.

Case II -- S.H., aged 2 years and 8 months. First seen on 10th May 1885

Her condition is as follows:-- She is very anaemic in appearance. She is not thin or wasted, but her flesh is flabby, and her legs and arms, though apparently well covered with flesh, are soft to the touch. Nothing is to be discovered on examination of the chest, the heart sounds being normal, and the lungs acting well. On palpation of the abdomen, it is found to be doughy, blown out with flatulence, and looking very large. The liver can be felt about one finger's breadth below the edge of the ribs, and the spleen is slightly enlarged. No enlarged lymphatic glands can be made out anywhere. She walks with difficulty, and has a great disinclination to go upstairs. A very little exertion makes her tired, and break out into a profuse perspiration, especially about the head. Her appetite is poor, and it is with great difficulty that she can be coaxed to eat. Her motions are light in color, frothy, and intensely offensive. Microscopically they contain nothing abnormal. Sometimes the actions vary from one to three in the twenty-four hours. The urine contains no albumen, sugar, or bile.

Previous History:-- With the exception of an acute attack of laryngitis, there is nothing to report about her former health. She was nursed as a baby by her mother. She first began to complain in July last, but as the weather was very hot, it was thought that she was suffering merely from the effects of the heat. At that time her motions were clay colored, and she was very pale and languid, with occasional attacks of diarrhea; but in the beginning not much attention was paid to these symptoms. Soon after, becoming worse, advice was sought concerning her; and in a letter to me from her medical attendant, it was stated that the saw her for what he considered were symptoms of mesenteric disease, but that she greatly improved under treatment. She soon afterwards relapsed, and owing to the extreme
debility and pallor, her case was considered hopeless.

Family History:-- Her mother is perfectly healthy, with no history of any importance. Her father is at present healthy; he suffered some years ago from abscess of the hip joint. From this he perfectly recovered, and is in excellent health. The other children, three sisters, are all healthy.

Treatment:-- She was placed upon a diet exactly similar to the other cases related, but in her case it seemed necessary, on account of exhaustion, to give as an addition brandy once or twice a day. Attacks of diarrhea were treated as they arose, but the medicine she principally took was iron in some form. Cod-liver oil could never be borne; it invariably caused looseness of the bowels. At one time she developed purpuric patches all over the lower part of the abdomen, which, however gradually disappeared; and she also had an attack of stomatitis, which lasted for about ten days. She was under observation for a considerable time during each year, and I constantly heard about her when she was not in London. The diet and general treatment were carefully attended to, and she was allowed to have chicken, eggs, tapioca, milk, and everything of a plain description. when I last heard, her condition was most satisfactory, and she had gained considerably in weight.

Case III -- E.H.W., aged 2 years and 1 month. Her mother came to consult me about her on the 10th of May, 1887, complaining that the child's digestion was out of order, and the first thing she noticed was that the motions were offensive and copious.

Previous History:-- The mother declared that she considered the child had not been thoroughly well ever since she was born. She was only suckled a fortnight, after which she had cows' milk and water, then donkeys' milk for a time, and then again cows' milk.

Family History:-- The patient is an only child. The mother is a healthy woman; has never suffered from any miscarriage; there is no history of tubercle. There is no history of syphilis obtainable, and no reason to suspect it.

The child has always been nervous and easily frightened. For several months past she has been dieted by the mother. Sometimes she would give her a little meat, and sometimes not. She often has attacks of sickness; the least thing causes her to vomit, and the food is very easily brought back in an undigested state. The motions are very large in quantity, pale in colour, and extremely offensive. On examination the child is found to be generally flabby, and does not look strong; she is pallid, but not thin, and there is no yellow tint of the skin. On examination of the chest, the right side is seen to be slightly flattened anteriorly, and the percussion note is of a higher pitch as compared with the left, probably from thickened pleura. The breath sounds are natural; the heart seems normal. The liver is one finger's breadth below the ribs. The spleen is not enlarged, and there are no enlarged lymphatic glands to be discovered. On examination of the blood, there is observed to be an excess of white cells. The red are less colored than is natural, and there are numerous lymphoid particles present. It is spanaemic, the number of cells being greatly diminished. The tongue is white and coated. She was ordered some perchloride of iron and cod-liver oil, with occasionally some decoction of aloes, and the diet was to consist of cream, whey, also asses' milk, raw meat, and potato.

A week later, I saw her on account of pain in the abdomen. Her legs were drawn up and she complained of great pain all over the abdomen. Her medicines were stopped, and I substituted for them a mixture containing bismuth and compound tincture of camphor, under which she improved. On the 11th of June she had an attack of sickness. She vomited frequently, and had three copious loose motions, the last being watery. This attack was probably because there had been some mistake about the milk, the child having had cows' milk instead of asses' milk during the morning.

When I last heard of her from the country, I was told that she seemed very much better and improved in every way. She had, however, to be extremely careful about food, and could not make any change with impugnity, -- in fact, the diet had had to be altered to an ordinary one with the greatest of care.

Case IV -- D.G., aged 2 years and 8 months. First seen on 9th September 1886. Her mother brought her to me, complaining of her not passing water for many hours, sometimes as many as 10 or 12 elapsing without any inclination on the part of the child to relieve herself.

Previous history:-- The child had been brought up by hand, and there is nothing of consequence to report concerning her, with the exception of a severe attack of laryngitis, from which she suffered a year previously. Family History.-- The mother is a delicate-looking woman, thin, and by no means strong. There is no distinct history of phthisis on either side, and there is no syphilitic history obtainable, and no reason to suspect it. There is one other child, older than the patient and perfectly healthy. She also had a severe attack of laryngitis when a baby, but nothing else of consequence.

On examination, she was seen to be a rather delicate-looking child, but apparently well developed, although her flesh was soft and flabby. No signs of rickets could be detected. The abdomen seemed large and doughy. The heart and lungs appeared to be normal. The spleen and liver were not enlarged, and no enlarged lymphatic glands could be felt. The urine proved to be distinctly albuminous and to contain crystals of uric acid. The mother, who had come with her from the country, had not brought the nurse, and could tell me nothing about the motions, or whether the bowels were regular or not. She was given a mixture containing some sulphate of soda and citte of potash. I soon afterwards received a letter telling me that the motions were copious, frothy, whitish, and intensely offensive, and that the bowels acted once or twice daily. On the 26th October I again saw her, and then heard from the mother that the child had been very poorly a fortnight previously, owing to what was considered due to a chill. She told me that the child was seized with what she termed "spasms of the abdomen," that she drew her legs up, and seemed in great pain. This attack of pain apparently lasted of several hours, and the mother states that she was not feverish. At that time the motions were too light in colour; they were very large and extremely offensive. She passed a slight amount of blood with the motion, but the mother is not quite sure whether this was merely from straining at the first, or whether it was mixed with the motion; probably the former would account for it, for I never again heard of the presence of blood. The nurse said the motions were so large in quantity that they quite astonished her, considering the amount of food eaten; that they were intensely offensive, and that there were never more than two in the twenty-four hours, although usually there was but one.

There being no doubt as to the diagnosis in this case, I ordered the same diet as in the previous cases, viz., cream and whey, pounded raw meat with sifted sugar and floury potato, and to have some compound decoction of aloes and cod-liver oil. On the 4th of November I saw her in what her mother described as her "stomach attacks," and I then found that she appeared to have considerable abdominal pain, with the legs drawn up. I therefore omitted the compound decoction of aloe sand the cod-liver oil, and gave a mixture containing some compound tincture of camphor. On a microscopical examination of the motions, it was found that they contained no pus. There were many long, rod-like virbios, and very numerous spores, like the penicilium glaucum.

It may be briefly stated that she was kept upon this diet for many months; that the attacks of pain from which she originally suffered gradually diminished in intensity until they entirely ceased, and that her general condition was greatly improved. The albumen disappeared form the urine; she became more muscular and walked without fatigue, and the motions gradually assumed a natural colour. This improvement, however, did not take place rapidly, but occurred during a period of about two and a half years. When I last heard of her, her condition was satisfactory, and although she could not be considered to be a perfectly robust child, there seemed to be nothing amiss with her. She ran about and played like other children, and seemed well. Her motions have always been natural for months past, an she has gradually returned to ordinary every day diet; but the nurse has been extremely careful in giving her only what has been ordered for her, and she has at all times been cautious not to give her anything which she feared would din the least disagree with her. The child has, therefore, had every possible care regarding her treatment.

The coeliac disease, amongst hospital patients, is popularly called "consumption of the bowels," meaning by this one the several affections to which they apply this term. This disease is characterized by the passage of large, loose, white or whitish, frothy, intensely foetid motions; by pallor of the skin; wasting; loss of muscular strength, and by the fact that it is most frequently met with in children between 1 and 5 years of age. The youngest child I have seen attacked by it was between 10 and 11 months old. I have seen it in children with perfectly healthy parents, and, indeed, with sisters and brothers in every way healthy. In only one family can I trace any history of struma on the side of the father. No history of tubercle can be traced in the family of any of the patients whose cases are related, except one, and in that, consumption occurred in a paternal uncle of the patient, and in all there is no history of syphilis obtainable, and no reason to suspect it. In most cases there is a history to be obtained of gout, either on the side of the father or mother, or in distant relations. The examination of the faeces themselves throws no light upon the matter. In those I have submitted to careful microscopical examination I have never been able to discover anything abnormal, and I have failed to detect any tubercle bacilli although carefully searched for.

Pathology:-- Under this head there is really nothing to be detailed. Examination of the bowel after death has led to the discovery of nothing. There is no sign of wasting of the mucous membrane, of engorgement, or of ulceration, and this statement refers to the whole of the intestinal tract. I am not aware that any wasting of Lieberkuhn's follicles has been detected. The liver and the spleen are not remarkable for anything abnormal. The spleen, however, is occasionally enlarged. The blood usually has signs of anaemia and except for the excess of small lymphoid particles, might pass of ordinary anaemic blood. As, however, these small particles are not peculiar to this affection, they really need hardly to be noticed, for I have myself found them, on many occasions, especially in children suffering empyema. Therefore, taking all the facts into consideration, it is quite clear that up to the present moment nothing has occurred to throw any light upon the pathology of this extraordinary affection.

Diagnosis:-- About this there can be no difficulty whatever, for the signs and symptoms are so clear that they cannot be mistaken. It is, however, of the greatest importance to examine the motions for one's self, for I am certain that if this had been done in several of the cases which have come under my notice, I should not have been the first to discover the child was suffering from anything beyond a little general debility. About this point one cannot be too strong, for, as there are usually no signs of ordinary diarrhea, and possibly but one action a day, the nurse, if not alarmed by the foetor, is apt to think nothing of the bowel, but to be more struck with the pallor and the generally increasing weakness of the child. The signs are so clearly indicative of this one affection, that there is no other with which it could be confounded.

Prognosis:-- Unfortunately this is usually grave, and the majority of children suffering from this disease die. I have, however, with the exception of one, in the cases that have come under my observation, had the good fortune to witness their improvement; and I think it was partly due to the careful nursing that they had in their own homes, and to the fact that they have been the children of people who have been well off, and who have been able to give them everything that has been ordered, regardless of expense. I feel certain that this has a great deal to do with the well-being of the children, for, in one case, the second on the list, I am sure that without the most constant care and watching on the part of the mother and nurse, she would have died. As to the time at which death will take place, it is impossible to say, for, however bad these little patients are, they frequently have extraordinary rallies, and seem better for a time; but, without any warning, relapses take place, and after apparently progressing most favorably, they suddenly become exhausted, and rapidly fade away, usually from attacks of watery diarrhea.

Symptoms and Progress:-- The onset is usually gradual, and there is nothing definite to call attention to the disease. The nurse or the mother generally states that the child has been a little out of health for some weeks, or possibly months, and yet there has been nothing special to cause alarm, with the result that no treatment has been adopted. The child becomes pale and anaemic, the blood evidently being affected, and sometimes there is a puffiness about the face. Possibly amongst the first indications, the motions have been marked by the nurse, and this has generally been owing to the colour being different, but above all, on account of their intensely foetid odor. This mal-odor is sometimes overpowering, and those who have not encountered can hardly realize it. The motions themselves, as already pointed out, are very large, soft, whitish in colour, and frothy. They resemble very much ordinary oatmeal porridge. The actions may be two or three in a day, but usually there is only one large one, and that may take place at a time to which the child is accustomed. Now and then there are attacks of so called diarrhea, that is to say, the child may have frequent evacuations of the bowels, that they may be very loose, and that they may be occasionally watery if the attack is severe, but these attacks of diarrhea are not an essential part of the disease, except in the cases of some children who have these constant attacks of diarrhea throughout the whole of the illness. The appetite is poor, usually capricious, sometimes large. The tongue is frequently coated with a whitish fur, at other times perfectly clean. In some cases there are attacks of crampy abdominal pain, possibly due to ordinary colic. These attacks were well marked in case 4. The abdomen is generally soft and doughy, although occasionally distended and hard. The liver is generally unaffected: now and then the spleen is found to be enlarged: no enlarged lymphatic glands can be detected. As a rule, the urine has nothing remarkable about it; occasionally it contains a trace of albumen. The temper of the child seems variable, most frequently he is extremely irritable, fretful, capricious, or peevish. Nothing seems to please him, and altogether he is quite unlike himself. Sometimes he is heavy and languid, complaining of headache, and wishing to lie down a good deal. The special senses seem to be normal. In all the cases that I have examined the various tendon reflexes were unaffected.

The most remarkable sign about these children is that of loss of muscular power, with apparently no great loss of flesh; that is to say, to look at, the children do not seem to have wasted much, but on feeling the legs or arms, it is at once evident how soft and flabby and out of condition they are. A curious point is that they have a great objection to going upstairs, and in one case, on of the first symptoms which struck the nurse as being extraordinary was that the child did not care to mount the staircase, and that she had invariably to be carried up. The progress of this affection is as a rule slow. The children seem to gradually become more feeble, to waste away, and to lose power. Occasionally an attack of watery diarrhea, in those children who have been accustomed to suffer from diarrhea, may carry off the patient. In the case of colicky attacks I have seen a child in imminent danger from collapse. In non-fatal cases recovery is extremely gradual. An important point to note in this connection, is the tendency to relapses, each relapse taking a considerable time to make up for lost ground. When improvement begins to take place, it is usually shown in the healthier condition of the evacuations. The colour becomes better, the motions are more formed, and above all, less copious and less offensive. The child gains in strength, but is a long time gaining in colour. The muscular strength is the last to return, and mounting the stairs, or jumping, are amongst the very last things that can be done. The appetite generally improves but slowly, and is always capricious, or nearly so. Another important point concerning these patients is that the least thing apparently upsets them, and the smallest error in diet will bring on copious actions of the bowels, cause vomiting, or make the child quite ill again.