Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
Celiac Disease gets More Complicated
970 - Celiac Disease gets More Complicated
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr. Norbert Herzog.
And I’m Dr. David Niesel
People with celiac disease are vigilant about avoiding gluten so they don’t end up with painful GI issues, but it’s not always foolproof.
Scientists from four countries, including the US and Canada, have spent the past six years learning where in the gut the response to gluten begins and how.
Celiac disease is a genetic disorder that prompts the immune system to attack gluten. The small intestine produces enzymes that digest gluten into small peptides.
Some of these small peptides don’t get fully digested and cross into the epithelium, which is the outer layer of the small intestine. That’s when the immune system gets triggered.
Using novel microscopic materials to create a model intestinal epithelium, scientists were able to observe the cells and molecules that activate the immune cells in the presence of gluten.
They saw that these epithelial cells present the gluten peptide to the immune system's T-cells, activating them. And these signals from the epithelial cells to the immune cells were stronger when bacterial pathogens were present exasperating the disease, which surprised the scientists.
Identifying the players, such as the epithelium, involved in the response to gluten may give scientists leads to test whether existing drugs targeting the epithelium can work in controlling celiac disease.
These discoveries can also guide them in developing new drugs to modulate the immune response to gluten and maybe even cure the disease.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast service.
