New EU project to speed up diagnosis of coeliac disease
Designing a new tool to aid in the diagnosis and management of coeliac disease is the aim of the EU-funded CD-MEDICS ('Coeliac disease management monitoring diagnosis using biosensors and integrated chip systems') project, which has just got underway. Coeliac disease is an auto-immune condition caused by intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. When people with the disease eat foods containing these products, the gluten damages the gut lining and so prevents food from being digested and absorbed normally. Symptoms of coeliac disease include diarrhoea, tiredness, anaemia, mouth ulcers, skin problems, depression, joint pain and nerve problems. The only treatment is strict adherence to a gluten free diet. It is estimated that 1 in 100 Europeans suffer from coeliac disease. However, a recent survey revealed that just 12.5% of those with the disease have been diagnosed correctly, and the average time from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis is over a decade. During that time, patients have a reduced quality of life and are often misdiagnosed with other conditions that may be treated unnecessarily with costly drugs. If coeliac disease is left untreated, sufferers are at risk of developing other diseases and conditions, such as osteoporosis, infertility, certain gut cancers and other autoimmune diseases. Prompt diagnosis is therefore essential, and this is where the CD-MEDICS project comes in. Over the next four years, the project will work to develop an easy-to-use test for coeliac disease which can be used in primary care settings to diagnose the condition and monitor the compliance of patients with a gluten free diet. At the heart of the project is so-called 'lab-on-a-chip' technology. A user simply places a drop of blood onto a device the size of a credit card which is then inserted into a machine that runs the tests automatically. The card consists of a microstructured network to control the flow of chemicals and a specially adapted surface to capture the biological components being looked for, and a sensor system designed to enable fast detection. In this case, the device will screen for two things: the genes which make some people more susceptible to developing coeliac disease, and the auto-antibodies which can reveal whether someone has the disease or, in the case of existing patients, whether or not they are complying with their gluten free diet. The new diagnostic tool will also contain embedded communication technologies to allow direct storage of test results on the patient's electronic medical record. This will help doctors and other healthcare workers interpret the results and manage each patient individually. Eventually the partners hope to integrate the technology into a device that can be used in the home, so that doctors can monitor their patients' progress remotely. The technologies developed by the project could also find application in the detection of a number of other serious health conditions, such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Funded to the tune of €9.5 million under the 'Sustainable and personalised healthcare' theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the project brings together 21 universities, hospitals and technology centres in 10 European countries.