Celiac disease

Here at the Celiac Disease Program and Support Group at Children’s Hospital Boston, our care is informed by our research. Children’s is home to the world’s most extensive research enterprise at a pediatric hospital. But as specialists in innovative, family-centered care, our physicians never forget that your child is precious, and not just a patient.

Researchers in the Celiac Disease Program are studying:

• serologic markers, the identification of which could reduce the need for endoscopies in the diagnosis of celiac disease
• procedures for taking more reliable biopsies
• the correlation between people who have had Marsh 1 lesions (sometimes thought of as pre-celiac disease findings) and people who develop celiac disease

Other researchers are examining:

• how to genetically engineer wheat so that it doesn’t have the proteins that are toxic to people with CD
• developing a medicine to take with food that may help break down the gluten. This probably won’t work to the point where it can substitute for following a gluten-free diet, but it could offer protection in situations in which you can’t be sure the food is gluten-free.  
• the possibility of a celiac disease vaccine that could be used as prevention and treatment