More insights into the origin of gluten intolerance

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered by the consumption of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Symptoms include intestinal pain, bloating, and poor absorption of nutrients, which can lead to serious long-term complications.

To date, the only treatment is to adopt a strict gluten-free diet, an often difficult solution to maintain and insufficient for many patients.


An international team of researchers, coordinated by McMaster University in Canada, has recently made significant progress in understanding the mechanisms of this disease. They discovered that the epithelium, the inner layer of the intestine, plays a key role in triggering the immune response to gluten. This role was previously unknown, as scientists believed that inflammation occurred only in the intestinal wall involving only classic immune cells.

To reach this discovery, the researchers developed a model of the intestinal epithelium in the laboratory, using microscopic biomaterials. This model allowed them to isolate the effects of certain molecules present in the epithelial cells of people with celiac disease. Using this method, they were able to observe in a controlled manner how these cells signal the presence of gluten to immune cells, thus confirming their central role in activating the immune system.

Another important finding of this study is that the epithelium sends stronger signals to immune cells in the presence of pathogens. This suggests that it might be possible in the future to detect these pathogens in at-risk individuals and inhibit their interactions with gluten and the epithelium to prevent celiac disease.

These results open new perspectives for developing pharmacological treatments targeting this specific interaction, potentially using drugs already undergoing clinical trials.

As noted by Elena Verdu, professor of gastroenterology and director of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute at McMaster University, "Precisely locating the spark of the immune response could drive research on drug administration to inhibit this newly discovered role of the epithelium."