Wheat-and-coeliac-disease

We know that the gluten proteins found in wheat are key triggers of the immune response in people with coeliac disease but what if other parts of wheat were also triggering a response?

That’s what researchers at Columbia University Medical Centre have been investigating. “This work is the first attempted mapping of the B cell response to non-gluten proteins of wheat in coeliac disease,” said Dr Armin Alaedini, the study’s principal investigator.

Dr Aladeini went on to find that specific types of non-gluten protein in wheat did in fact cause a reaction in the immune systems of patients with coeliac disease. “Although we can’t draw direct conclusions about the pathogenic effects of the proteins yet, these findings should prompt a closer look into their potential involvement in the inflammatory processes at work in coeliac disease,” says Dr Alaedini.

Wheat and coeliac disease first appeared in Issue 5 of Australian Gluten-Free Life magazine in Research News.

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