A new breakthrough involving Irish patients and researchers is shedding light on why some people develop coeliac disease. The study, which was published last week in Nature Genetics, identifies seven genetic regions that differ between people who have coeliac disease and people who don't.
Coeliac disease has long been known to have a genetic component in the form of a molecule that ties into the body's self-recognition system, explains Dr Ross McManus, a senior lecturer at Trinity College Dublin's Institute of Molecular Medicine. "But 30 per cent of the population have that molecule, so it's not that everyone with that molecule gets the disease. What we haven't known are all the other genes that are causing this susceptibility," he explains.
McManus was one of the lead researchers on an international project to compare maps of DNA samples taken from thousands of coeliacs and "controls", or people without coeliac disease.
They identified seven genetic regions that differed between the groups and are now homing in to see what those areas contain. "This is our first major insight into what these other genes are," says McManus.
So far they have found links to the immune system in most of the genetic regions, and discovered that four of the regions are also associated with type one diabetes, which occurs with relatively high incidence in coeliacs. McManus hopes the breakthrough will pave the way to fine-tuning screening and eventually possible drug treatments.
"Once you understand what the molecular nuts and bolts are you can try to design therapies to intervene. That's going to take time, but we have good candidates for it."
Emma Clarke Conway from the Coeliac Society of Ireland welcomes the new results. "Some of our members donated samples for the research so we are delighted to see the outcome," she says.
"I imagine it would take some years before it becomes something in terms of treatment. We have to remember to be patient, but it's fantastic that there is a development in the area. We hope that the coeliacs in this country will see the fruits of it."