近日，刊登在国际杂志Gastroenterology上的一项研究论文中，来自澳大利亚沃尔特与伊丽莎-霍尔研究所(Walter and Eliza Hall Institute)的研究人员通过研究表示，儿童的乳糜泻或可反应成年人的一些机体状况，这对于开发新型治疗乳糜泻的疗法或提供一定的帮助。
儿童乳糜泻，即儿童机体对引发成年人患病的谷蛋白中相同的毒性麦胶（俗称面筋）产生反抗作用，该研究对于开发针对成年乳糜泻的新型诊断技术和疗法或提供一定的思路；新型潜在的治疗乳糜泻的疗法或许是一种免疫疗法，其可以诱导机体免疫系统对谷蛋白耐受，从而使得患者重新将谷蛋白加入到日常饮食中。
乳糜泻是一种常见的自身免疫疾病，其是由机体对谷蛋白的不合适的免疫反应所引发的，谷蛋白是小麦、大麦、黑麦及燕麦中的一种特殊蛋白；该病大约在70个澳大利亚个体中会影响1人的健康，使得患者出现消化道症状，比如为胃气胀、腹痛以及腹泻等；目前治疗乳糜泻的唯一疗法就是个体终生进行无谷蛋白的饮食方式。
早期研究发现，乳糜泻儿童或许和患乳糜泻的成年个体机体的免疫反应存在不同，本文研究则首次研究者为何会出现这样的不同以及出现不同的分子机制；目前研究者急需开发针对各个年龄段个体患乳糜泻的新型疗法及诊断策略；本文研究中，研究者揭示了，个体机体对于谷蛋白的免疫反应在全球范围内将近90%的乳糜泻患者（各个年龄段）机体中都是一样的，因此利用新型靶向免疫疗法平台进行乳糜泻的诊断、治疗或可帮助患乳糜泻的成年人和儿童进行疾病的有效治疗。
最后研究者Tom McLeod指出，乳糜泻对于个体的健康及其社会功能都具有深远的影响，而本文研究为开发治疗乳糜泻患者的新型诊断及治疗手段或提供了新的思路和研究基础。
doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2015.07.013
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Consistency in Polyclonal T-cell Responses to Gluten Between Children and s with Celiac Disease
Melinda Y. Hardy, Adam Girardin, Catherine Pizzey, Donald J. Cameron, Katherine A. Watson, Stefania Picascia, Riccardo Auricchio, Luigi Greco, Carmen Gianfrani, Nicole L. La Gruta, Robert P. Anderson, Jason A. Tye-Din
Back Ground and Aims Developing antigen-specific approaches for diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease requires a detailed understanding of the specificity of T cells for gluten. The existing paradigm is that T-cell lines and clones from children differ from those of s in the hierarchy and diversity of peptide recognition. We aimed to characterize the T-cell response to gluten in children vs s with celiac disease. Methods Forty-one children with biopsy-proven celiac disease (median age, 9 y; 17 male), who had been on strict gluten-free diets for at least 3 months, were given a 3 day challenge with wheat; blood samples were collected and gluten-specific T cells were measured. We yzed responses of T cells from these children and from 4 s with celiac disease to a peptide library and measured T-cell receptor bias. We isolated T-cell clones that recognized dominant peptides and assessed whether gluten peptide recognition was similar between T-cell clones from children and s. Results We detected gluten-specific responses by T cells from 30 of the children with celiac disease (73%). T cells from the children recognized the same peptides that were immunogenic to s with celiac disease; deamidation of peptides increased these responses. Age and time since diagnosis did not affect the magnitude of T-cell responses to dominant peptides. T-cell clones specific for dominant α- or ω-gliadin peptides from children with celiac disease had comparable levels of reactivity to wheat, rye, and barley peptides as T-cell clones from s with celiac disease. The α-gliadin–specific T cells from children had biases in T-cell receptor usage similar to those of s. Conclusions T cells from children with celiac disease recognize similar gluten peptides as T cells from s with celiac disease. The findings indicate that peptide-based diagnostics and therapeutics for s may also be used for children.
