Causes of gluten intolerance discovered

Researchers at the Walta and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) reported today that they have found the three key protein fragments in gluten that cause an immune response in those with coeliac disease.

Sufferers find that their body’s immune system is triggered when gluten is digested which leads to damage to the small intestine, in turn hindering the body’s ability to absorb nutrients.

Leader of the study, and head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s coeliac disease research laboratory, Professor Bob Anderson said that discovery of the toxic peptide components of gluten has been the holy grail in coeliac disease research ever since gluten was identified as its cause 60 years ago. “And that’s what we’ve done.”

The study was initiated by Anderson some nine years ago and has taken in over 200 patients from Australia and the UK. Recruited through the Coeliac Society of Victoria and the Coeliac Clinic at John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford in the UK, patients were fed bread, rye muffins or boiled barley.

Blood samples were then taken six days later to assess how patients’ immune systems responded to 2700 different gluten fragments. The researchers identified 90 fragments that produced some level of immune reaction, with three showing themselves to be especially toxic.

“These three components account for the majority of the immune response to gluten that is observed in people with coeliac disease,” Anderson said.

The discovery forms the basis of a new peptide-based immunotherapy currently being developed by Melbourne biotech Nexpep to desensitise people with coeliac disease to the adverse effects of gluten. The company completed Phase 1 trials of the therapy in June, the results of which are expected within the next few months. Anderson is the founder and director of the company.

The WEHI study also involved researchers from Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Funding was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Coeliac UK, the Coeliac Research Fund, Nexpep, BTG International and the Victorian Government.

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001012.