Coeliac UK, the national charity for people with coeliac disease, announces it has granted funding for three medical projects totaling Ģ300,000 over three years.
1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease, an autoimmune disease caused by intolerence to gluten but only 1 in 8 or 12.5% of those have been diagnosed. There is no cure and no medication for coeliac disease and the only treatment is a life-long, strict gluten-free diet. Without a gluten-free diet, coeliac disease can lead to infertility, multiple miscarriage, osteoporosis, neurological deficits and bowel cancer.
The Charity is funding three new research projects to aid in the diagnosis of the condition which are:
1) Ģ143,000 into genetic research led by Professor David van Heel of Queen Mary College, London which builds on earlier work to identify the genetic basis of coeliac disease. In his previous work Professor van Heel and his team identified 13 new gene variants which appeared to be associated with coeliac disease, many of which are linked to the way the immune system works. In this latest study, new genetic techniques will be used to identify those genes most likely to cause coeliac disease rather than those simply associated with the condition. 8,000 coeliac patient genetic samples will be analysed and compared with those from 8,000 people without the condition.
2) Ģ143,00 granted to a team led by Professor Daniel Aeschlimann from Cardiff and joined by Dr Marios Hadjivassiliou, Professor David Sanders and Nigel Hoggard from Sheffield, to undertake new research into the neurological manifestations of gluten sensitivity. The research will use new biomarkers (transglutaminase 6 auto antibodies) in the blood to identify those patients presenting with neurological symptoms but lack the classical bowel symptoms more reliably and earlier in the disease process. The work will also establish whether the new test can identify those patients with coeliac disease who present to gastroenterologists that are at risk of developing neurological problems. A sensitive brain imaging technique called Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy will be employed to identify patients who already have brain abnormalities at diagnosis of coeliac disease. Further molecular work endeavours to explain the events leading to the production of this new biomarker and therefore to provide an insight into why symptoms can be vastly different between individual patients.
