Post by kickingfrog on Apr 28, 2014 20:35:16 GMT
Article on the Australian research into coeliac vaccine
Posted by Hayley on 28/4/2014
GF board
New article from the Melbourne facility trailing a coeliac vaccine-
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MELBOURNE researchers have discovered the “trigger point” for coeliac disease, unlocking for the first time the molecular interaction the body launching its immune response against gluten.
By uncovering how the “toxin” — the wheat protein gliadin in gluten — causes the reaction, researchers hope this will lead to better treatments and diagnostic tests for the one in 70 Australians with the incurable disease.
It is estimated a further 80 per cent of cases — or 330,000 people — remain undiagnosed from the lifelong condition, in which the ingestion of wheat, rye and barley damages the bowel, limits nutrient absorption and often causes infertility.
Researchers from Monash University, the University of Melbourne and Leiden University in the Netherlands used studies conducted at the Australian Synchrotron to uncover this molecular “docking” mechanism.
Monash’s Dr Hugh Reid said coeliac disease was an immune response against gluten, in which certain T cells interpreted it as a foreign and toxic substance they must fight.
Dr Reid said their findings, published today in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, deciphered the immune response that occurred in 95 per cent of coeliac sufferers who carried one of the two gene linked to disease susceptibility.
“It’s the first time we’ve been able to observe the actual triggering point of initiation of the response in coeliac disease,” Dr Reid said.
“We’d like to try to interfere with this interaction with therapeutics, like a vaccine, that could turn off the immune response.”
Dr Reid said they would continue to work with US biotech company Immusan T, which was also involved in the study, to develop a vaccine against coeliac disease.
m.couriermail.com.au/news/melbourne-researchers-find-trigger-for-coeliac-disease/story-fnii5smp-1226898750199
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The molecular heart of celiac disease revealed
24 APRIL, 2014
in ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN ADVANCED MOLECULAR IMAGING
Researchers discover how our immune cells bind to wheat proteins triggering the condition
Embargo: 1 am AEST Tuesday 29 April 2014
Published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
Australian, US and Dutch researchers have determined the molecular details of the interaction between the immune system and gluten that triggers celiac disease. Their work opens the way to potential treatments and diagnostics.
Monash, Melbourne and Leiden university researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from a Boston-based company, have described the molecular basis of how most of the immune cells (T cells) that induce celiac disease lock onto gliadin, a component of gluten, thereby triggering inflammation of the lining of the small intestine. This is what gives many celiac sufferers symptoms similar to food poisoning after eating a slice of toast.
“We studied how different T cells bind to gliadin, a component of gluten. And when we looked closely we found the docking mechanism was similar. This provides us with a way to develop drugs that might reduce or turn off the immune response,” says Dr Hugh Reid of Monash University. Dr Reid and fellow Australian-based researchers collaborated in the study with Prof Frits Koning from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and with US company, ImmusanT....
...Today’s paper, published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, explains what’s happening in the overwhelming majority of celiac disease sufferers, the ninety-five percent who carry a gene for the particular protein, HLA-DQ2. In 2012, the research team found a similar trigger for the other five per cent who have HLA–DQ8, another celiac disease susceptibility gene.
With the assistance of the Australian Synchrotron, the researchers were able to determine the structure of the molecular complexes that form during the interaction between T cell receptor and gliadin. Armed with this information, they were able to work out what was important in the T cell response....
Ultimately, the insight provided by the research will assist the development of a blood test and a therapeutic vaccine for patients with celiac disease who carry the gene HLA-DQ2.
www.scienceinpublic.com.au/arc-imaging/celiac#more-18263
Paper available post-embargo at dx.doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2817
For interviews
Dr Hugh Reid, +61 417 001 637, Monash University, hugh.reid@med.monash.edu.au
Posted by Hayley on 28/4/2014
GF board
New article from the Melbourne facility trailing a coeliac vaccine-
*********************
MELBOURNE researchers have discovered the “trigger point” for coeliac disease, unlocking for the first time the molecular interaction the body launching its immune response against gluten.
By uncovering how the “toxin” — the wheat protein gliadin in gluten — causes the reaction, researchers hope this will lead to better treatments and diagnostic tests for the one in 70 Australians with the incurable disease.
It is estimated a further 80 per cent of cases — or 330,000 people — remain undiagnosed from the lifelong condition, in which the ingestion of wheat, rye and barley damages the bowel, limits nutrient absorption and often causes infertility.
Researchers from Monash University, the University of Melbourne and Leiden University in the Netherlands used studies conducted at the Australian Synchrotron to uncover this molecular “docking” mechanism.
Monash’s Dr Hugh Reid said coeliac disease was an immune response against gluten, in which certain T cells interpreted it as a foreign and toxic substance they must fight.
Dr Reid said their findings, published today in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, deciphered the immune response that occurred in 95 per cent of coeliac sufferers who carried one of the two gene linked to disease susceptibility.
“It’s the first time we’ve been able to observe the actual triggering point of initiation of the response in coeliac disease,” Dr Reid said.
“We’d like to try to interfere with this interaction with therapeutics, like a vaccine, that could turn off the immune response.”
Dr Reid said they would continue to work with US biotech company Immusan T, which was also involved in the study, to develop a vaccine against coeliac disease.
m.couriermail.com.au/news/melbourne-researchers-find-trigger-for-coeliac-disease/story-fnii5smp-1226898750199
******************************************
The molecular heart of celiac disease revealed
24 APRIL, 2014
in ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN ADVANCED MOLECULAR IMAGING
Researchers discover how our immune cells bind to wheat proteins triggering the condition
Embargo: 1 am AEST Tuesday 29 April 2014
Published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
Australian, US and Dutch researchers have determined the molecular details of the interaction between the immune system and gluten that triggers celiac disease. Their work opens the way to potential treatments and diagnostics.
Monash, Melbourne and Leiden university researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from a Boston-based company, have described the molecular basis of how most of the immune cells (T cells) that induce celiac disease lock onto gliadin, a component of gluten, thereby triggering inflammation of the lining of the small intestine. This is what gives many celiac sufferers symptoms similar to food poisoning after eating a slice of toast.
“We studied how different T cells bind to gliadin, a component of gluten. And when we looked closely we found the docking mechanism was similar. This provides us with a way to develop drugs that might reduce or turn off the immune response,” says Dr Hugh Reid of Monash University. Dr Reid and fellow Australian-based researchers collaborated in the study with Prof Frits Koning from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and with US company, ImmusanT....
...Today’s paper, published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, explains what’s happening in the overwhelming majority of celiac disease sufferers, the ninety-five percent who carry a gene for the particular protein, HLA-DQ2. In 2012, the research team found a similar trigger for the other five per cent who have HLA–DQ8, another celiac disease susceptibility gene.
With the assistance of the Australian Synchrotron, the researchers were able to determine the structure of the molecular complexes that form during the interaction between T cell receptor and gliadin. Armed with this information, they were able to work out what was important in the T cell response....
Ultimately, the insight provided by the research will assist the development of a blood test and a therapeutic vaccine for patients with celiac disease who carry the gene HLA-DQ2.
www.scienceinpublic.com.au/arc-imaging/celiac#more-18263
Paper available post-embargo at dx.doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2817
For interviews
Dr Hugh Reid, +61 417 001 637, Monash University, hugh.reid@med.monash.edu.au