or the first time, scientists have visualised an interaction between gluten and T-cells of the immune system, providing insight into how coeliac disease, which affects approximately 1 in 133 people, is triggered. Published today in Immunity, the discovery was led by Dr Hugh Reid and Professor Jamie Rossjohn of Monash University, Professor Frits Koning of the University of Leiden and Dr Bob Anderson of biotechnology company ImmusanT Inc, based in the US. An increasingly diagnosed chronic inflammatory disorder, coeliac disease affects the digestive process of the small intestine. When a person with coeliac disease consumes gluten, their immune system triggers T-cells to fight the offending proteins, damaging the small intestine and inhibiting the absorption of important nutrients into the body. There are currently no treatments available apart from a diet completely free of gluten.
