Seemingly Innocuous Virus Can Trigger Celiac Disease

Seemingly Innocuous Virus Can Trigger Celiac Disease

The study, published in the April 7 issue of Science, further implicates viruses in the development of autoimmune disorders such as celiac disease and type 1 diabetes, and raises the possibility that vaccines could one day be used to prevent these diseases.

“This study clearly shows that a virus that is not clinically symptomatic can still do bad things to the immune system and set the stage for an autoimmune disorder, and for celiac disease in particular,” said study senior author Bana Jabri, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the department of medicine and pediatrics, and director of research at the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center. “However, the specific virus and its genes, the interaction between the microbe and the host, and the health status of the host are all going to matter as well.”

Celiac disease affects one in 133 people in the United States, although it is believed that only 17 percent of those have been diagnosed. It is caused by a weak immune response to the protein gluten, found in wheat, rye and barley, which damages the lining of the small intestine. There is no cure for celiac, and the only effective treatment is a gluten-free diet.

Gluten is a dietary protein that is naturally poorly digested, and therefore more likely to engage the immune system than other proteins, even in people without celiac. However, the way inflammatory immune responses to gluten work remains poorly understood. In a 2011 study published in Nature, Jabri’s laboratory reported that IL-15, a cytokine upregulated in the intestinal lining of celiac disease patients, can break oral tolerance to gluten. However, not all celiac disease patients overexpress IL-15.

The current study, a collaboration with Terence Dermody, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Pitt School of Medicine and physician-in-chief and scientific director at Children’s ...

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