Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where eating gluten damages the small intestine. It affects about 1 in 100 people worldwide. The only current treatment is lifelong gluten-free diet, which works well for most people but is demanding and doesn't help everyone.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing drugs that break down gluten before it triggers damage, therapies that block the immune attack in the intestine, and vaccines that might retrain the immune system to tolerate gluten. Some studies focus on helping people who don't improve on gluten-free diet alone, while others aim to make accidental gluten exposure less harmful.
Gluten-degrading enzymes
Pills containing enzymes that break down gluten in the stomach are in late-stage testing. They're designed to protect against accidental gluten exposure, not to replace gluten-free diet.
Immune checkpoint blockers
Drugs that interrupt the specific immune reaction to gluten are being tested. One approach blocks an enzyme called transglutaminase 2, which is central to celiac inflammation.
Therapeutic vaccines
Vaccines aim to retrain the immune system to stop treating gluten as a threat. Early trials are testing whether repeated small exposures to gluten fragments can build tolerance.
What to know before you search
Eligibility often depends on confirmed celiac diagnosis by biopsy, how long you've been on gluten-free diet, and whether symptoms are controlled.
What types of trials are currently open
- Enzyme therapy trials — Testing pills taken with meals to break down gluten before it reaches the intestine. Most measure intestinal damage on biopsy after controlled gluten exposure.
- Immune modulator trials — Testing drugs that block specific steps in the celiac immune reaction, often while participants continue gluten-free diet.
- Vaccine trials — Testing injections or pills containing gluten fragments, given over months to see if the immune system learns to tolerate gluten.
- Non-responsive celiac trials — Studies for people who still have symptoms or intestinal damage despite strict gluten-free diet.
- Microbiome studies — Following people with celiac disease to learn how gut bacteria interact with gluten and immune responses.
Recently added Celiac Disease trials
Try a nutrition and exercise education program designed for celiac disease
Celiac disease is a chronic immune-mediated disorder that requires lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet. Despite dietary treatment, children with celiac disease may experience nutritional inadequacies, unhealthy eating behaviors, reduced physical activity, and impaired quality of life. This randomized, single-blind, controlled trial aims to evaluate the effects of a structured nutrition education program combined with physical activity education on anthropometric measurements, eating behavior, physical activity, and health-related quality of life in children aged 8-12 years with celiac disease. Fifty-four participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) nutrition and physical activity education, (2) physical activity education only, or (3) no education (control). Outcomes will be assessed at baseline and after a 6-week follow-up using validated questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, body composition analysis, and physical performance tests. The findings are expected to provide evidence for multidisciplinary educational interventions to improve the health and well-being of children with celiac disease.
Track liver health markers in wheat sensitivity patients over time
Hypothesizing an intestinal barrier impairment as a common pathophysiological substrate of both Non Celiac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS) and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MAFLD), in a retrospective cohort study (data not yet published), demographic, clinical, laboratory and histology data of NCWS patients at the time of diagnosis, were analyzed and compared to control subjects with Irritable Bowel Syndrome/Functional Dyspepsia (IBS/FD) and freshly diagnosed Celiac Disease (CeD). NCWS diagnosis was performed by a double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge. Steatosis was confirmed by ultrasound examination. Our retrospective data showed that the frequency of liver of steatosis was lower in NCWS than in IBS patients. In addition, it seems that pre-diagnosis avoidance of wheat in NCWS correlates with protection from steatosis. A subset of NCWS patients, recently exposed to wheat, with clinical features suggesting increased IP, seems to be predisposed to liver steatosis and fibrosis. To validate the results of the retrospective study, the researchers planned the present prospective study, to analyze the prevalence of liver steatosis and fibrosis, evaluated by ultrasound (US) examination, FibroScan analysis \[CAP (Controlled Attenuation Parameter) and LSM (Liver Stiffness Measurement) values\], FIB-4 (Fibrosis-4) index, and NFS \[Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) Fibrosis Score\], in patients with NCWS at the time of diagnosis, comparing them with two control populations of newly diagnosed IBS/FD and CeD patients.
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