Gluten Sensitivity in Non-Celiac Patients

Gluten is the most important protein component of some grains, notably wheat, rye, and barley, which are the basis for a variety of flour and wheat derived alimentary products consumed throughout the world (bread, pasta, pizza etc). However the "engineering" of gluten-containing grains created the conditions for human diseases related to gluten exposure. These forms of gluten intolerance represent a heterogeneous set of conditions, including wheat allergy, Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease, that, combined, affect about 10% of the general population. The frequency of not-celiac gluten intolerance is however still unknown, even though it is possible that these conditions have been undiagnosed and under-diagnosed by the physicians for long time. The state of immune responsiveness to wheat antigens, represents a complex process, and its establishment and maintenance are not completely elucidated. The most frequent diseases caused by wheat ingestion are T cell-mediated disorders, IgE-mediated allergic reactions and celiac disease (CD).

However, besides CD and wheat allergy, there are cases of gluten reactions in which neither allergic nor autoimmune mechanisms are involved. These are generally defined as gluten sensitivity (GS). Some individuals, who experience distress when eating gluten-containing products and show improvement when following a gluten-free diet, may have GS instead of CD. GS patients are unable to tolerate gluten and develop an adverse reaction when eating gluten that usually, and differently from CD, does not lead to small intestinal damage. While the gastrointestinal symptoms in GS may resemble those associated with CD, the overall clinical picture is generally less severe and is not accompanied by the concurrence of tTG autoantibodies or autoimmune disease. Typically the diagnosis is made by exclusion, and an elimination diet and "open challenge" (i.e., the monitored reintroduction of gluten-containing foods) are most often used to evaluate whether health improves with the elimination or reduction of gluten from the diet.

This has two major aims:

1. Evaluation of the effective dependence from the gluten of the clinical alterations presented by subjects with gluten sensitivity (GS). The study will be done after a period of gluten-free diet (washout of 15 days), comparing two groups of GS subjects: given gluten or placebo (15 days), followed by a further period (15 days) on gluten free diet .

2. identification of possible markers (serological, gut barrier function, immunological and expression of tight junctions constitutive proteins) that may be of help to differentiate, in humans, the condition of gluten sensitivity (GS) from that of Celiac Disease (CD); these markers might be of help in the early diagnosis of GS versus CD especially in the case of discordant serology.