World-first trial underway to test vaccine for Australians living with coeliac disease

A vaccine designed by Melbourne scientists aimed at helping those with coeliac disease to one day eat gluten is being tested in an international trial.

The injection is designed to re-program the immune system’s response to gluten.

The vaccine is based on research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

Dr Jason Tye Din, laboratory leader for Coeliac Disease Research Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, said the auto-immune disease can have serious health implications for sufferers.

“The ultimate goal of the vaccine is to re-train the person’s abnormal immune response to gluten so they can return to having gluten in their diet safely,” he said.

“It’s targeting people with coeliac disease with that diagnosis and restore that normal default setting which is being able to tolerate gluten in their diet.

“The goal is to target people with the disease, once they have been diagnosed.”

Researchers are looking for participants who have coeliac disease in the phase two of the trial.

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More information on the trial can be found here