Off The Beaten Path

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Georgia, United States
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.

Wednesday, August 20

Celiac's Disease

This is the most comprehensive study and explanation that I have found. And I want to keep it, because I have a hard time remembering and even understanding exactly WHAT Celiac's is. It is not an allergy to wheat......it is so much more than that. I have my father to thank for this, it came to me through his family. He died last year from small intestine cancer which is a direct result of having long term, untreated Celiac's Disease.


UM Scientists Pinpoint Key Receptor in Celiac Disease

A study from researchers at the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine answers a fundamental question relating to the cause of celiac disease and, possibly, other autoimmune disorders such as Type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis. People with celiac disease must not eat foods containing gluten, a protein found in wheat.
For them, gluten triggers an autoimmune response in which the immune system attacks the body, leading to a wide spectrum of serious health problems.
The new study, published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Gastroenterology, identifies the key gluten receptor in the intestine that opens the gateway through which gluten enters the body and triggers a faulty immune response in celiac patients.
The receptor, called CXCR3, is critical to the early stages of the faulty immune response. Pinpointing it could help doctors treat celiac disease more effectively, according to Alessio Fasano, MD, professor of Pediatrics, Medicine and Physiology of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and medical director of the Center for Celiac Research.
"This is a scientific question that had never been answered before," Fasano says. "It is not only significant in the basic science of autoimmune disorders such as celiac disease, but in therapeutic approaches for the future. This opens a new scientific paradigm for the study of immunity.
There are three key components of celiac disease, according to Fasano. One is genes, and researchers have already identified a number of genes that seem common among celiac patients, but none that are consistently found in all patients.
The second component is the environmental trigger that leads to the autoimmune attack. Triggers have remained elusive for all autoimmune diseases except celiac disease, in which gluten is the undisputable trigger.
The third component is a leaky gut, wherein the barrier of the intestine becomes permeable enough to allow in the offending antigen - in this case, gluten, to come through.
Researchers at the Center for Celiac Research found that gliadin, the component of gluten that proves problematic for celiac patients, binds to the receptor called CXCR3.
This interaction between gliadin and CXCR3 triggers the release of a human protein called zonulin, which opens up the intestinal barrier to make it more permeable. In healthy patients, this effect is temporary. In celiac patients, the effect is long-term, and the results can be devastating.
The findings may be significant for other autoimmune disorders as well, Fasano says. The same process may occur in patients with Type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis, in which the intestines are the port of entry or the pathway through which the offending antigens in these and other autoimmune disorders get into the body, he explains.
"For the first time, we have evidence of how the foreign antigen gains access to the body, causing the autoimmune response," according to Fasano, who is also a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center. "Further study is needed, but this could allow us to intervene before the zonulin is either released or activated, preventing the immune response altogether."

5 comments:

Queenie said...

Goodness Nea I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry you have to suffer with awful disease. You are such a strong woman to carry on and do what you do...

Neoma said...

Hi queenie, I suppose I was born with it, but it lay fairly dormant, although all my life I have had problems that Dr.'s couldn't figure out a reason for. Then about three years ago, I got stung by 7 or 8 bees in a very close amount of time, the last time I ended up in the hospital. After that my body really went haywire......and gradually got so bad, they decided I had Lupus....also an auto immune disease. then in April my dad died and they found he had celiac's disease, and it is hereditary, so my Dr. decided to find out if that is what I had, and that is what I have. So since April I have been OFF wheat, rye, barley and most oatmeal. for the most part as long as I don't eat them I don't suffer, I eat them, even a little bit, and the reaction is swift and painful. The inside of the small intestines actually sloughs off, and not without pain...anyway.....as long as I stay away from anything pastry, bread, cereal, that kind of thing, I am okay. Where I get tricked is in things that you don't expect to have wheat in them. Candy, drinks, spices, condiments. I have to be very careful. I found out last night that wine is a nono.

Libby said...

nea, this is a good artucle,, learned some stuff from it!!

Neoma said...

Hi LIbby, I needed to save it because it is hard for me to explain just what Celiac's is, and what it means having it. Even those of us who have it, don't really completely understand what it does to us. In my case, it has effected my eyes, my head (headaches & memory), my joints,acid reflux, feeling faint and nauseated after eating , the list goes on and on.....and of course my stomach and intestines hurt, if I don't eat anything with wheat it it, I am pretty "normal." But it is hard to keep it out of my diet. I have to be so careful what I eat.

Neoma said...

The Dr. says that irritability and depression are also part of the disease, well yeh........I think so. It makes you pretty depressed when you first find out you have something like this, and the irritability comes from the pain.