Aiming at a drug treatment for celiac disease to support a gluten-free diet
If you needed to choose between a strict special diet for the rest of your life or not so strict a diet and protective drug treatment, which one would you choose? For celiac patients, there are no options at the moment, because the only treatment is to leave out grains with gluten in them from their diet entirely. The situation can change, however, if Academy Research Fellow Keijo Viiri and his research group reach their goals.
Keijo Viiri who has worked as an Academy Research Fellow and a research group leader since 2017 now leads the Research Group on Intestinal Signalling and Epigenetics at Tampere University. Epigenetics is part of molecular biology and studies the activation and deactivation of genes without any changes taking place in the human DNA. These epigenetic changes are changes caused by the environment in gene function. These changes can be passed down from one generation to the next through the gametes: changes in the environment surrounding an expectant mother can affect the life of the child to be born through changes in the gametes.
– We study how epigenetic regulatory mechanics regulate the differentiation of the gut epithelium and how it becomes disturbed in diseases like celiac disease. We also study how hormones secreted from the gut epithelium together with pancreas regulate the blood sugar level. In addition, we look into how viral infections affect the outbreak of celiac disease, Viiri says.
The research group participates in international celiac clinical studies in which the effect of the drugs is assessed by molecular or gene-activity-based measurements.
Celiac disease damages the villi in the small intestine
Celiac disease is an incurable autoimmune disorder caused by a reaction to gluten, a group of various proteins found in wheat and in other grains such as barley and rye, which causes an inflammatory reaction in the small intestine and damages the intestinal villi. The symptoms are diverse and individual: different kinds of stomach aches and pains, nausea, psychiatric symptoms like fatigue and depression as well as vitamin deficiency. Due to the damaged intestinal villi, the body cannot properly absorb nutrients. Celiac disease cannot be prevented, and there is no cure for it. In Finland, the prevalence of celiac patients is about 2 per cent of the population.
Aiming to find the best possible drug against celiac disease
The only treatment for celiac disease at the moment is the gluten-free diet where all grain products that contain gluten are left out. In practice, all rye, barley and wheat products need to be left out. The diet must be strictly followed for the rest of the celiac patient’s life because even very small quantities of gluten can damage the small intestine and cause symptoms.
A gluten-free diet is very troublesome to maintain and it doesn’t always take away the symptoms either. Therefore I do hope that the efforts of our research group will help to find the best possible drug for celiac disease. I also hope that our work will reveal how viral infections are potentially linked to the breaking out of celiac disease, Viiri summarizes.
Keywords: celiac disease, epigenetics, epigenetic regulatory mechanism, gluten-free diet, viral intestinal infections, Tampere University, Tampere Institute for Advanced Study