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The following article appeared in the Houston Chronicle
today.  This is research, not fact yet, so perhaps this
enzyme may be one of the causes of Celiac Disease;
 until more research groups duplicate the findings,
this hypothesis is still a theory.  But it is exciting
for us!!
Janet Rinehart in Houston

Sept. 26, 2002, 8:17PM
CAUSE OF DIGESTIVE DISORDER FOUND
ENZYME MAY HELP CONTROL CONDITION
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Medical scientist Chaitan Khosla had a personal reason to
study Celiac sprue -- both his wife and son have the rare, debilitating
digestive disorder. Now the Stanford University researcher said he has
identified the cause and may have found an enzyme that will control the
condition.

Celiac sprue starts with a severe inflammation of the intestine that is
caused by eating gluten, an important part of the cereal grains wheat,
rye, barley and oats. For Celiac sprue patients, even a tiny bit of
cereal grain gluten can cause diarrhea, pain and other problems.

The only treatment is avoiding any form of cereal grains, a diet that is
almost impossible to follow because gluten is in hundreds of products,
Khosla said.

"If you are diagnosed with Celiac sprue, typically the physician gives
you a referral to a dietitian who gives you a book the size of the New
York phone book that lists all the things you can't eat," he said. "You
can't buy 90 percent of the things in most grocery stores."

Khosla said he started experiments to find the fraction of gluten that
prompts the inflammation reaction in Celiac patients.

Laboratory tests isolated a large gluten protein, called a peptide, that
Khosla found was not digested in the intestine. For most people, the
peptide passes harmlessly out of the body. But not in Celiac sprue patients.

"The peptide is essentially like sand," Khosla said. "If most people ate
it, not much would happen. But in the small intestines of Celiacs, this
peptide is highly inflammatory."

Khosla said he and his colleagues also have isolated an enzyme from
bacteria that is able to break the peptide into pieces, allowing the
molecule to pass through the gut in test animals.

The researcher said it is hoped the enzyme can be turned into a
supplement that Celiac patients could swallow before a meal. The enzyme
would tear apart the troublesome gluten molecule and prevent the
intestinal inflammation, Khosla said. This would permit them to eat
wheat and other grains.

Khosla said the enzyme may work in the same way that people who are
lactose intolerant take an enzyme to enable them to digest milk and
other dairy products.

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