Celiac Vaccine Tests In Australia

[ENF]

I don't know if this has been posted before. This company, Nexpep, is starting clinical trials early in 2008 for a vaccine.

Developing a vaccine for celiac disease.. returning to a normal diet and good health

ABOUT US

Created to develop and commercialise the use of therapeutics and diagnostics, Nexpep works in celiac disease.

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[Ursa Major]

That looks interesting. But if they'd ask me to be one of their guinea pigs, I'd refuse. Who knows what long-term health consequences this vaccine would cause. I think I'd prefer the diet.

Besides, this vaccine will only address the two 'official' celiac disease genes. Every serious scientist who deals with celiac disease knows, that there likely are other genes causing it. Plus, it will not help any people who don't officially have celiac disease, but gluten intolerance.

Also, it will in no way change people's genes. I don't believe that an allergy to cats can be tracked down to specific genes. Therefore, to compare asthma caused by a cat allergy with celiac disease is like comparing apples to oranges (or more like apples to beans, as apples and oranges are at least both fruits). Personally, I have my doubts that much good will come out of this trial.

[2kids4me]

I would not be interested in such a vaccine. Too many questions come to mind....ANY vaccine is a "biological" medicine. It is made of small proteins or parts thereof. Science gets ahead of itself and wants to immunize for everything without fully understanding that the vaccine has the potential to impact more than just the specific problem.

Ie : give a vaccine to a dog to prevent rabies - wonderful...then that dog develops autoimmune hemolytic anemia - was it the vaccine that turned on a gene somewhere or inactivated a suppressor gene ( a type of gene meant to stop autoimmune actions in the body) ??

There have been many threads about how an illness or stress or vaccines impacts the immune sytem negatively. If they try out this new "celiac vaccine"... what might it trigger?

I dont understand how this type of vaccine works - I only know about vaccines for diseases - they use part of the protein from the virus/bacteria to create an immune response and memory cells that will kill the virus should that person ever be exposed to the real thing. So for example - someone with Type 1 diabetes - their immune system already had immune memory for its' own islet cells - they are destroyed, how would a vaccine help that? If you give the vaccine prior to onset - how does a scientist know what else will be affected by genetic vaccine? Is the prevention worse than the disease?

We are living beings with bodies that have some oopsies built into the gentic code.... science now wants to start playing with genetic functions - I guess they have genetically modified all sorts of food crops, why not branch out...? (insert sarcastic tone here)

Sandy

[ENF]

I thought that this was good news, and that the more companies that are doing research, the better off we are.

As someone with both celiac genes, and many years of being sick, in the case of this research I prefer to view the glass as half-full.

At the very least, the cross-contamination risks would be lessened for people with celiac when a vaccine is put on the market.

EDIT:

I don't think that this drug is a "vaccine" in the same sense as ones for rabies, smallpox, polio, etc. I believe that it's just something that allows digestion of gluten, and prevention of an autoimmune response, in people who do not have the necessary body substances to do it. The villi damage appears to be what they're trying to stop.

Do people that do not have at least one recognized celiac gene get villi damage? I doubt it, otherwise their gene(s) would be considered celiac.

[spunky]

I would wait to see what happened to the people who took it, like 30 years from now, how are they doing? By then, I'll be 84 years old and so used to being gluten free I proably wouldn't care anyhow!

sometimes new medical ideas seem promising, but look how often lawyers are advertising for class-action law suits against drugs or medical devices recently used that were found to have some horrid side effect a few years down the road.

It will be interesting to watch what happens, but I personally feel more secure with my health in my own hands, as much as possible.

[Ursa Major]

ENF, I hope that you don't feel like we are attacking you. Far from it. I am glad you posted the link to the information, as it's good to be up to date on these types of development. Our comments are not personal, but rather are addressing the article.

You said:

Do people that do not have at least one recognized celiac gene get villi damage? I doubt it, otherwise their gene(s) would be considered celiac.

In fact, there have been people who had negative bloodwork, and don't have the two recognized celiac disease genes who were biopsied and had completely flattened villi. So, yes, it is very possible. But still, their genes are not considered celiac by the medical establishment (even though some are catching on).

I understand that people would like to be able to eat gluten again, and hope that some day it will be possible.

I personally believe that the day will come that NOBODY can eat gluteny foods any more without getting sick, due to the genetically engineered foods getting more toxic for everybody.

Wheat didn't always contain the amount of gluten it has now. The reason that more and more people can't tolerate it is, that scientists have been increasing the amount of gluten to make it stickier, to work better when bread is kneaded and baked by machines rather than people. I know that today's bread is a lot more rubbery than it was when I was a kid.

[ENF]

Thank you for the explanation about genes and villi damage.

When I was a kid, we had mostly Silvercup and Wonder breads. In upstate New York, where I went in the summer, they had Friedhoffer products. Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without ripping the bread apart was an aquired skill. I do rember eating "Real" freshly baked rye bread, bagels, and other things that I souldn't have. I was undiagnosed than, but knew that this stuff was bad for my stomach - but not how bad, until later.

I agree that gluten is not good for anybody. Pills or no pills, I doubt that I would eat gluten again, either - but would probably eat out more often because at least I could take the pills on those occasions and be assured of not getting sick from cross-contamination. In a perfectly gluten-free world, of course, this would not be necessary. For now, I'd probably take the pills for insurance.

[ENF]

In fact, there have been people who had negative bloodwork, and don't have the two recognized celiac disease genes who were biopsied and had completely flattened villi. So, yes, it is very possible. But still, their genes are not considered celiac by the medical establishment (even though some are catching on).

That's very interesting. I've been wondering for a while if this were possible. Do you have the source of this information so that I can read it? Thanks!

[kbtoyssni]

Interesting article - thanks! I don't think I'd want to do it if it were available, though. I think I have a much different outlook on this than most people, but celiac is such a big part of me that taking it away would seem almost like a loss of identity. I don't have too much trouble with the diet and not eating gluten is just what I do. It could also be that I associate wheat with being sick and not having a life and I associate my currently wonderful life with not eating wheat. And I like my life as it is right now. I didn't go though the stages of mourning when I was diagnosed, but I think I would if I had to start eating gluten again. I am an odd person