Celiac disease and other gluten-related disorders

Improving the coeliac disease diagnostic procedures, follow-up, early detection of complications, and finding new ways to treat cases with persistent symptoms

Areas: Internal Medicine and Specialties

Areas of research

The group is traditionally focused on care and research in the field of celiac disease with major interest to research activities addressing diagnostics, follow-up, and complications of celiac disease.

Research activity is documented by several publications over the past two decades, involving diagnostic aspects of celiac disease (identification of serum autoantibody markers and population at higher risk of celiac disease development), characterization of rarer forms of celiac disease (potential and seronegative celiac disease) and its complications, nutritional aspects in follow-up.

The group's scientific activities have had numerous practical implications in the management of the celiac patient over the years, and for this reason, the research group has been the promoter of a multidisciplinary patient management, which has been recognized in the development of the Diagnostic, Therapeutic and Treatment Work-up (PDTA) of the IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, S.Orsola-Malpighi Hospital.

The Center is expected to be activated soon for two international randomized controlled trials aimed at evaluating the therapeutic efficacy and safety of tissue transglutaminase inhibitor-based treatments in patients with celiac disease experiencing persistent symptoms despite gluten free diet.

Research Project

The research project is primarily based on developing new knowledge that can improve the clinical care of patients with celiac disease, through identification of early markers of complicated disease and contribution into the identification of new drugs that can treat severely symptomatic forms within clinical trials and national and international collaborations.

Research objectives

Identification of new diagnostic markers of disease.

Study of clinical demographic, serologic, histologic, and genetic markers predictive of development of neoplastic and non-neoplastic complications.

Identification and improvement of management of major clinical issues of celiac patients in follow-up, with special reference to metabolic and osteo-metabolic changes.

Contribution to the identification of new molecules useful in the reduction of symptomatic forms in association with the gluten-free diet.

HEAD OF RESEARCH GROUP

Alessandro Granito

Associate Professor

Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche

Via Massarenti 9

Bologna (BO)

alessandro.granito@unibo.it

Tel: +39 051 2142258

Tel: +39 051 636 2 258

Fax: +39 051 2142725