• Home
  • About
  • Getting Started
  • Latest Updates
  • Raising Your Coeliac Child
    • Media Kit
  • Contact Me

Free From

... for life, gluten free

You are here: Home / Living Gluten Free / Can Celiac Disease be cured with stem cells?

November 26, 2007

Can Celiac Disease be cured with stem cells?

Iron Celiac points us to a medical article claiming that a stem cell transplant eliminated coeliac disease in a 12 year old girl.

This kind of transplant is thought to have improved or stabilised a number of auto-immune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease.

She had the stem cell transplant from a sibling because of leukemia, but it also apparently cured her coeliac disease. First of all, it is excellent news that the leukemia was beaten … but the side-effect bonus of elimination of coeliac disease is very interesting for us.

3 years 6 months after the transplant, her villi are still not damaged by the gluten she’s been eating since 3 months after the transplant.

That is a long gluten challenge, but not the longest I’ve heard of, so it is possible that the coeliac issues will reappear later. I have spoken to a gastro-enterologist about gluten challenges (because of the long shall we/shan’t we debate we’ve been having in this house) who said that he had had one patient in whom the damage from gluten only started to be apparent 11 years after reintroducing gluten into his diet. Plus, of course, this girl is a teenager, and it seems that some teenagers can experience a remission.

Even so, this is very interesting, and definitely deserves to be investigated further – especially now that scientists can produce stem cells from your skin, which is much easier to deal with ethically than when human embryos were involved.

But the questions that Michael raises are good ones:

  • Would you want this treatment? I might be tempted to arrange it for my daughter: diagnosed at only 1, with a lifetime of diet restrictions ahead of her, it might seem worth removing the restrictions. But perhaps not if it was for myself, and I was (even!) older than i am now …
  • Would the medical profession permit it? Would the insurance companies pay out? Here in the UK some of the cost of gluten free food is borne by the taxpayer, so the cost-effectiveness equation would be different than in the US …
  • What happens to the Celiac community and the support groups? The support group here in the UK has an interesting dilemma at the moment: they’ve now decided to switch to a subscription model rather than free access, but this raises all sorts of issues about what their focus should be, particularly now that the food labelling laws are better …
  • Do oncologists start coming to support group meetings to drum up business? Again, this might be covered here by the National Health Service, so perhaps not a directly relevant question …

But all these questions are moot until more research has been done to find out if this is a real cure, or merely a coincidental remission of symptoms.

What do you think?

 

I’ve written a book summarising what we’ve learnt over 20 years of dealing with the gluten free diet, and it might be just what you’re looking for. It packs the lessons we’ve learned into what I hope is a helpful and straightforward guidebook. It’s available on Amazon, as a paperback or for your Kindle…


Related posts:

Default ThumbnailNHS cuts for gluten free food Default ThumbnailCoeliac Awareness Week 2007: Getting to Diagnosis Default ThumbnailHere goes – my personal experiment Default ThumbnailGordon Banks pushes for Food without Fear

Article by Lucy / Living Gluten Free

Comments

  1. Laney says

    November 28, 2007 at 11:31 pm

    I have to tell you, when it comes to stem cells I really wish I lived in Europe. I never think of myself, although I have two autoimmune disorders (celiac and sjogrens). My husband has MS, and I would love to get him a stem cell transplant as soon as they are proven effective, before the damage becomes too great.

    Currently they are on trial here in the US, only a dozen patients with Autoimmune disease including MS. It will be years before it is a treatment available to us, paid for by insurance.

    Laney

  2. Esther says

    November 29, 2007 at 10:40 am

    Would I have the treatment? yes once it was properly tested etc which will take a good few years to know it works long term. However it would have to be very well researched first I cope well enough I don’t have any wish to be a test subject where it could have side effects.

    To me something like this is fairly easy to say yes to where as I can see why some deaf people would not get an implant and I don’t think I’d say yes if they told me tomorrow they can cure my dyslexia. I think the difference is for me not eating gluten is just that not eating something because it makes me ill being deaf or dyslexic is much more than that both socially and mentally.

  3. Lucy says

    December 3, 2007 at 10:23 am

    Laney – you guys are really going through it, aren’t you? I guess you’re watching the stem cell trials very carefully. Did you see the articles about the researchers who’ve grown stem cells from skin?

    Esther – I agree that it will take more time to know if this has worked long term. The research article indicates that the family don’t want to be followed up with more biopsies at the moment, which I can understand since she’s been so unwell. Perhaps in the future they can check back with her to see how it goes.

Newly diagnosed?

Some posts you might find helpful:

  • What can I eat?
  • Drinks you can enjoy
  • Gluten free breakfast ideas
  • Reasons to avoid gluten
  • Put down the knife
  • Are you cheating?
  • What’s that gluten thing you’ve got?
  • Is there a gluten free society in your country?
  • Surviving the first year of living gluten free

Raising Your Coeliac Child - now available at Amazon

*** As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Judging

Lucy has served on the judging panel for the Free From Food Awards for several years, and for the Free From Eating Out Awards in 2015-2017.

free-fromeatingout16-300x300

freefromawardslogo-16-200x200

Find out more

  • Getting Started
  • What can I eat?
  • Getting Healthy
  • Living Gluten Free
  • Gluten Free Child

Need still more?

View the archives

Disclosure

I may earn a small commission by advertising or linking to products on this website. Your purchase helps support this site.

Disclaimer

The content on this site is provided for general educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Consult your doctor before changing your diet. Use the information on this site at your own risk, based on your own judgement.

Thank you!

Copyright © 2023 · Education Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo