You are here: Home :: Area NEM :: Medical science :: Human medicine

Begoña Diosdado, Erica van Oort, Cisca Wijmenga

“Coelionomics”: towards understanding the molecular pathology of coeliac disease

Keywords: Apoptosis, coeliac disease, matrix metalloproteinases, oxidative stress, proliferation and differentiation

Coeliac disease (CD) is an inflammatory disorder of the small intestine characterised by a permanent intolerance to gluten-derived peptides. When gluten-derived peptides reach the lamina propria in CD patients, they provoke specific changes in the mucosa of their small intestine. Although the susceptibility to CD is strongly determined by environmental gluten, it is clearly a common genetic disorder. Important genetic factors for CD are the HLA-DQ genes located in the MHC region on chromosome 6 [ HLA-DQ2 (95%) or HLA-DQ8 (?5%) heterodimers]. So far, the only treatment for CD consists of a life-long gluten-free diet. A key question in CD is why the gluten-derived peptides are resistant to further breakdown by endogenous proteases and how, in turn, they can activate a harmful immune response in the lamina propria of genetically predisposed individuals. Four mechanisms, namely apoptosis, oxidative stress, matrix metalloproteinases and dysregulation of proliferation and differentiation, are thought to play a role in the pathophysiology of CD. Whether the genes involved in these four mechanisms play a causative role in the development of the villous atrophy or are, in fact, a consequence of the disease process is unknown. In this review we summarise these mechanisms and discuss their validity in the context of current insights derived from genetic, genomic and molecular studies. We also discuss future directions for research and the therapeutic implications for patients.

Clinical Chemical Laboratory Medicine, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 1434-6621
Volume: 43, 07/2005
Pages: 685 - 695

Show full article (external site)

Show all available items of this journal

 

Area NEM