Intolerant Gut

Coeliac disease is a chronic autoimmune condition that runs in families and causes diarrhoea, weight loss and abdominal pain. To control symptoms, a gluten-free diet is a must, because it’s gluten, found in wheat, rye and barley, that kick starts the rogue immune response that leads to disease. This ultrathin section of gut taken from a patient shows two important hallmarks of disease. Firstly, shortened finger-like protrusions (villi) in the gut wall make absorbing nutrients difficult. And secondly, an abundance of immune cells called plasma cells (fluorescing yellow) that churn out a maverick antibody (tagged in green) which locks on to the body’s own gluten-digesting enzymes. It’s these autoantibodies and the plasma cells that produce them that interest scientists. Being able to follow their fate in the coeliac gut will help in understanding just how they contribute to disease.

Written by Caroline Cross

Caroline Cross

Writer

Fascinated by the complexities of the human body, Caroline enjoys writing about biomedical research. She spent much of her research career peering down a microscope at cells and parasites, and is constantly amazed at their beauty.

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• Roberto Di Niro
• Ludvig M Sollid, University of Oslo
• Patrick C Wilson, University of Chicago
• Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Medicine, Copyright 2012