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Team:UC Davis/Celiac
From 2009.igem.org
Contents |
What is Celiac Disease?
Description
Celiac Disease is a form of autoimmune disorder, which occurs inside the small intestine. When the body cannot digest gliadin (component of gluten) properly, this leads to an immune response (14). Furthermore, different people have different reactions to these immune responds such as pain and vomiting (14). It has been estimated that about one out of 133 Americans are currently suffering from this disease (11); including one of our teammate's friends, and that was what sparked our interest in designing this project.
What happens in the normal small intestine?
In the normal small intestine, the Brush border membrane lets small peptides and molecules like water through and into the bloodstream. The brush border membrane also lets larger molecules into the blood stream, similar to Gliadin; however, these larger molecules are converted through a transcellular route, which does not prompt an immune system response.
What happens in Celiac disease small intestine?
The Brush border membrane in the small intestine of people suffering from Celiac Disease allows large molecules such as gliadin to go straight into the blood stream without directing them through the transcellular route. Once gliadin passes through, Antigen Presenting Cells (APCs) recognize gliadin as a foreign object and will attack. This immune response causes pain and other adverse side-effects.
The immune response not only causes abdominal bloating, pain, weight loss and vomiting, most of the time it may also damage intestinal villi, which are important for absorbing nutrition. The destruction of villi eventually leads to a lack of absorption of different nutrients, which can lead to other illnesses (14). Some people affected with this disorder can also suffer from autoimmune thyroid disease, autoimmune liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis (diseases in which body immune system attacks healthy cells/tissues) (14).
