Sep 8, 2009 11:54 am US/Eastern
Univ. Of Md. Has Breakthrough In Celiac Disease
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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People with celiac disease have to eat gluten-free foods.
AP
There's been a major breakthrough in medical research out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
As
Mary Bubala reports, it offers hope to patients living with celiac disease and other disorders, like diabetes and even cancer.
Anna Quigg lives a gluten-free life after being diagnosed with celiac disease several years ago. Gluten, a protein found in wheat, makes her and three million others, sick.
A decade ago, doctors thought it was a food allergy. But a breakthrough at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that Quigg and others get sick because their bodies overproduce a protein called zonulin. Too much of that protein opens up the protective lining of the intestines, making people sick.
"It's difficult to make sure when you are going to someone's house for supper, how well do you know them and are you comfortable calling them and saying, `Hi, I have this special diet. How do you work around that?'" Quigg said.
Now another major breakthrough at the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine may soon free Quigg and others from the strict diet they are burdened with. A new drug is being tested right now in clinical trials.
"The excitement is that I won't have to be on a gluten-free diet all the time, that I can go out to eat. I can eat at friends' houses. I can go places and not worry if I am getting gluten in my diet," Quigg said.
Dr. Alessio Fasano's research goes beyond that, though. It potentially unlocks the mystery about why certain people get sick. It goes back to that protein called zonulin. Researchers found it's really a molecule that could be the key to treating autoimmune disease.
"Allergies, heart attacks, strokes, cancer are due to the fact there is stuff coming from the environment that will allow free access that if you don't have this barrier that doesn't work anymore, then you allow the bad guys to come in and develop different conditions, like cancer," Fasano said.
That significance is not lost on Quigg. Progress in diagnosis, treatment and prevention will mean major things for her family.
"As I learned more about what this actually means for autoimmune disorders in general, that, to me, is huge. My children have a one in 20 chance of getting celiac disease," she said. "It can maybe prevent them from having autoimmune diseases that I suffered with."
This major breakthrough will be presented at a conference in Chicago this month.
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