CDEUSSA - European Platform for Research on Prevention and Treatment of Coeliac Disease: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Integrate Basic Scientific Knowledge in Clinical Applications and Food Industry

Coeliac disease (CD) is a frequent chronic disorder caused by hypersensitivity to food proteins (gluten). CD affects as much as 1% of the Europeans. The health burden of CD is considerably and the negative economical consequences for society are extensive. <P>
The last years an impressive amount of research work on CD has been produced by different European groups and many immunological, genetic and epidemiological factors implicated in CD have been clarified. However, there is a fundamental gap between the groups of researchers working on the basic scientific aspects of CD (immunology, genetics, cereal chemistry) and those working on the clinical and social aspects of the disease (preventive and curative medicine, food industry). The aim of this SSA is to close the gap between basic science on CD and applications of its results in prevention, clinical treatment and food industry. <P>

By European collaboration among leaders from disciplines beyond those traditionally used, among others from academia, patient organisations and industry, we will form a platform to generate the scientific basis for innovative research on primary prevention and effective treatment of CD, taking full advantage of genomics/proteomics techniques. To achieve our aims we propose: <OL> <LI> to organise two European workshops with leading scientific experts, representatives from the industry, coeliac patients organizations and health experts from the European Community, in order to <LI> create an operational European Multi-stakeholder Platform of experts on CD from crosscutting research areas, to promote future integrated European research in CD and <LI> to offer recommendations to the FP6 and FP7 program on a common European research strategy on novel methods for prevention and treatment of CD by integrating basic science with clinical applications and involvement of European industry.