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Celiac.com 02/07/2024 - Celiac disease is a systemic disorder triggered by gluten ingestion in genetically susceptible individuals that poses a significant global health challenge. The diversity in its clinical presentation, ranging from digestive issues to entirely asymptomatic cases, complicates timely diagnosis, leading to many cases being undetected or misdiagnosed. A research team including Govind K. Makharia, Prashant Singh, Carlo Catassi, David S. Sanders, Daniel Leffler, Raja Affendi Raja Ali & Julio C. Bai, recently catalogued the opportunities and challenges at the heart of the global burden of celiac disease. Diagnosing celiac disease involves a combination of serological tests checking for disease-related antibodies and examining duodenal biopsy samples for villous abnormalities. However, the variability in histological grading and the inconsistency in the performance of certain serological tests present significant hurdles. Confirmatory tests are also not universally accessible, particularly in some regions of the world. The linchpin of managing celiac disease currently involves a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet. This treatment, while effective, faces various obstacles hindering patient adherence. Issues like the limited availability and high cost of gluten-free products, the risk of cross-contamination, and the diet's overall restrictiveness contribute to these challenges. Ensuring adherence to a gluten-free diet requires routine follow-ups, yet here too, a lack of standardized protocols creates considerable variation. Determining the optimal strategy for managing celiac disease becomes a puzzle with missing pieces. Amid these challenges, however, lie opportunities for groundbreaking research. Addressing the diagnostic inconsistencies, developing universally accessible confirmatory assays, and finding innovative solutions to enhance patient adherence to gluten-free diets are areas ripe for exploration. The global burden of celiac disease extends beyond its immediate health impacts. It underscores the need for a comprehensive and accessible diagnostic framework that considers the diversity in clinical presentations. Moreover, the management strategies call for a nuanced approach that acknowledges the socio-economic factors influencing dietary adherence. In the evolving landscape of celiac disease, where challenges abound, researchers are presented with a chance to reshape the narrative. Through collaborative efforts, advancements in diagnostics, and innovative strategies for patient management, the journey towards effective solutions for celiac disease holds promise. The obstacles faced today become the stepping stones for tomorrow's breakthroughs in understanding, diagnosing, and managing this complex global health concern. Read more in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology
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Celiac.com 09/21/2017 - Current guidelines by the British Society of Gastroenterology recommend that doctors take at least four duodenal biopsy specimens at the time of upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy when looking for celiac disease. The practice has been shown to increase celiac diagnoses, and to reduced missed diagnoses. The Society recently sought to assess compliance with their own guidelines within their institution. They then sought to apply measures to improve their compliance rate, and to assess the resulting impact on our diagnostic rate for celiac disease. The research team included Nilofer Husnoo; Wafaa Ahmed; and Muhammad Hanif Shiwani. They are variously affiliated with the Urology Department, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield, UK, the Gastroenterology Department, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Tunbridge Wells, UK, and the General Surgery Department, Barnsley General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Barnsley, UK. The team performed a retrospective audit of electronic records for patients with no prior celiac diagnosis, who underwent UGI endoscopy with duodenal biopsies between August 2014 and May 2015. They then used the information to raise awareness among endoscopy users at the Society, and conducted a follow-up audit between February and May 2016. They found and registered a total of 924 eligible patients for the first part of the study, and 278 for the second part. The proportion of patients who had ≥4 biopsy specimens submitted increased from 21.9% to 60.8% (p<0.001). The study by the BSG suggests that taking less than four duodenal biopsy specimens can result in missed celiac diagnoses. However, a few simple steps can help doctors avoid such missed diagnoses. Since atypical symptoms are more common in patients these days, and since the lifetime risk of malignancy, especially intestinal lymphoma and other gastrointestinal cancers, is higher in celiac patients, it's important that doctors conduct a thorough investigation when they suspect celiac disease to avoid missing the diagnosis. For the BSG, that means taking 4 or more biopsy samples. Source: BMJ Open Gastro. 2017;4(1):e000140
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Celiac.com 07/25/2016 - Celiac disease is one of the most common immune-mediated diseases. Often, a gluten-free diet does not fully control celiac symptoms and disease activity. Even though no new therapies have been approved, a growing effort, coupled with a rapidly expanding knowledge of the regulatory pathway could soon lead to new breakthroughs. A team of researchers recently reviewed the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and current treatment paradigm for celiac disease. The researchers were M Wungjiranirun, CP Kelly, and DA Leffler, both of the Division of Gastroenterology at the Celiac Center of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They also reviewed the major types of therapies being proposed for celiac treatment, and expounded broadly upon what is known, and what can be predicted concerning the regulatory pathway for approval of a new celiac disease treatment. In the near future, increasingly numerous and diverse therapy options will enter clinical trials. The desired result will be the first approved agents targeting celiac disease treatment outside of a gluten-free diet. The team notes that, though things like biopsies and blood tests will always be important in therapeutic clinical trials, there is not currently enough evidence to link them with improved patient outcomes, which is required as a baseline for drug approval. This means that patient-reported outcomes will likely be primary end points in Phase III celiac disease trials for some time to come. Source: Am J Gastroenterol. 2016 Jun;111(6):779-86. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2016.105. Epub 2016 Mar 29.
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Celiac.com 10/02/2015 - Many people with celiac disease or gluten-intolerance take digestive enzymes, hoping for some protection against accidental gluten-contamination. Post-proline cutting enzymes have been shown to effectively degrade the immunogenic gluten peptides and have been proposed as oral supplements. Several existing digestive enzyme supplements also claim to aid in gluten degradation. However, not all gluten proteins are the same. The gluten proteins that are particularly active in triggering an adverse immune reaction in celiac disease are known as immunogenic 33-mer from α-gliadin and a 26-mer from γ-gliadin. So, how effective are currently available digestive enzyme supplements ineffective in breaking down these specific gliadins that triggers immune reactions in people with celiac disease? A team of researchers recently set out to determine the effectiveness of such existing enzyme supplements in comparison with a well characterized post-proline cutting enzyme, Prolyl EndoPeptidase from Aspergillus niger (AN-PEP). The research team included G.Janssen, C. Christis, Y. Kooy-Winkelaar, L. Edens, D. Smith, P. van Veelen, and F. Koning. They are variously affiliated with the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion at Leiden University Medical Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands, DSM Food Specialties, Delft, The Netherlands, and DSM Food Specialties in South Bend, Indiana, USA. For their study, the team subjected each of the five commercially available digestive enzyme supplements along with purified digestive enzymes to 1) enzyme assays and 2) mass spectrometric identification. Gluten epitope degradation was monitored by 1) R5 ELISA, 2) mass spectrometric analysis of the degradation products and 3) T cell proliferation assays. Their findings show that, due to the high proline content of gluten molecules, gastrointestinal proteases are unable to fully degrade them leaving large proline-rich gluten fragments intact, including an immunogenic 33-mer from α-gliadin and a 26-mer from γ-gliadin. Basically, none of the currently available digestive enzyme supplements are effective in degrading immunogenic gluten epitopes. This means that these enzymes are not likely to be helpful to people with celiac disease. Share your thoughts in our comments section below. Source: PLoS One. 2015 Jun 1;10(6):e0128065. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128065. eCollection 2015.
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Celiac.com 09/21/2009 - Failure of the hepatitis B vaccine in people with celiac disease is common. In fact, vaccine failure occurs in about 50% of all attempts to vaccinate people with celiac disease against hepatitis B. Research shows that age at celiac diagnosis and other factors can influence response rates. The August 12 issue of the medical journal Vaccine features a timely article on failure of the hepatitis B vaccine in people with celiac disease, which asks the very sensible question of whether it is time to reevaluate our current vaccine procedures. One of the most important signs of non-responsiveness to the hepatitis B vaccine is a genetic marker called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) phenotype DQ2. It's interesting that people with celiac disease often carry these same genetic markers, and that fact is at the center of one hypothesis about why celiac patients are less able to respond to the hepatitis B vaccine. A team of researchers recently set out to assess responsiveness rates to the hepatitis B vaccine among patients with celiac disease. The team was made up of S. Leonardi, M. Spina, L. Spicuzza, N. Rotolo, and M. La Rosa of the Broncho-Pneumology & Cystic Fibrosis Unit of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Catania, in Catania, Italy. The team describes the results of a retrospective study on celiac patients vaccinated with three intramuscular injections of recombinant hepatitis B vaccine (Engerix in doses of 10mug at 3, 5 and 11 months of age. Their results showed that half of the celiac disease patients (50%) failed to respond to the vaccine course, and that those who did best were less than 18 months of age at the time of diagnosis for celiac disease; that group showed a significantly higher response rate to the vaccine. The study confirms that celiac patients have a far higher failure rate for hepatitis B vaccination than healthy control subjects. These results strengthen the call to re-evaluate current hepatitis B vaccine strategies for patients with celiac disease and to assess whether to recommend a course of re-vaccination. Source: Vaccine - August 12, 2009.
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