• Celiac disease, for every conscious patient there are nine who do not know they are

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October 23, 2019A biodegradable nanoparticle containing 'gluten' seems able to 'stop' celiac disease: injected into patients, it allowed them to eat gluten for 2 weeks without being affected. This is the result obtained in a phase II clinical trial conducted at Northwestern Medicine which will be announced at the "European Gastroenterology Week" conference in Barcelona. Through the 'nano device' the patient learns to recognize gluten as a harmless substance and in this way avoids autoimmune reactions. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, in which, in other words, the immune system recognizes as the 'enemy' the main protein component of wheat, gluten, and produces an autoimmune reaction that damages the intestinal walls.

To date, those suffering from celiac disease can keep the disease at bay only by avoiding ingesting gluten-containing foods. But US experts have used the nanoparticle as a '' trojan horse '' to teach patients' immune systems not to react to gluten (in other words the nanoparticle induces in the patient 'immunological tolerance' towards gluten). The nanoparticle containing gluten, in fact, injected into the blood is immediately picked up by immune cells (macrophages) that literally swallow its 'cargo' and warn other immune cells of its harmlessness, so that adverse reactions to gluten are prevented. The clinical study has so far yielded positive results: treated patients consumed gluten for 14 days without being affected. The treatment practically eliminates any inflammatory reaction on the intestinal walls to which celiac patients inexorably go when they consume gluten. The nanodevice has already been placed under the scrutiny of the US FDA and will now also be tested for other autoimmune diseases and food allergies such as peanut.