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Is gene therapy a cure for CD?  This very technical article reviews the
possibility.  The full article and all other articles in the May issue of
Gene Therapy are free, at least for the time being.  Print it out now while
you can.

Table of contents for the May 2003 issue:
http://www.nature.com/gt/journal/v10/n10/index.html

Gene Ther 2003 May;10(10):835-43

Celiac Disease: a model autoimmune disease with gene therapy applications.

Londei M, Quaratino S, Maiuri L.

1Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK.

Gene therapy (GT) is still at the 'experimental' stage and some recent
setbacks have cooled the potential use of this therapeutic tool even in
life-threatening conditions. However, this therapeutic approach has a
potential, which is not limited to disease for which we have not other
option. There are increasing evidence that GT will be soon used in diseases
that are not life threatening. One group of diseases that can benefit from
GT is the autoimmune one. Several experimental animal models have indicated
the efficacy (proof of principle) of GT. In the present review, we have
addressed the possibility that even extremely benign autoimmune-like
diseases such as Celiac Disease (CD) might one day profit from this type of
therapy. We further point that in conditions such as CD, where the trigger
is well known and the pathogenic cascade is relatively well defined, a
situation not common in autoimmunity, we can even have a better situation
where to explore and use GT to control disease initiation and progression.
Once the risks that are still intrinsic to GT will have been reduced the
therapeutic options we outline in the present review might not appear too
far from reality.

Gene Therapy (2003) 10, 835-843.
doi:10.1038/sj.gt.3302041

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *