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Coeliac disease and type I diabetes have significant similarities in their mechanisms of development, including autoimmune reactions among most important. Both diseases have also other common mechanisms, among which one should point the role of small intestine. However, today we do not know the initime mechanisms of small intestine mucosa damage in both diseases. Particularly, no systematic immunological and molecular studies have been performed in disease cases where morphological changes are not yet visible in intestinal mucosa. We aimed to find out by immunological and other screening tests a group of patients with suspected small bowel mucosa changes in order to investigate these cases by wide range of immunological and molecular methods. Firstly we plan to study: 1) the character of immunological changes in small intestine (bioptate analysis) by immunohistochemical and immunity gene expression analysis; 2) the character of T regulatory cells in small intestine and peripheral blood; 3) immunological activity of normal small intestine microflora and its role in these diseases; 4) specific immunological changes in peripheral blood that might directly reflect the changes in small intestine. The patients target groups are suspectives for coeliac disease, coeliac disease and type I diabetes patients. The small intestine bioptate and peripheral blood will be further investigated in patients with significant immunological changes by proteomics mehods, intestinal cDNA expression library analysis etc. to find target molecules that are participating in this immunological process. In addition, the expression of intestinal mucosa peptidases and tissue transglutaminase having central role in gluten processing, is studied. Based on our preliminary results and these obtained during the first year we plan to publish one paper and to present the results on immunology conferences. The studies involve 4 doctoral students |