Advances in celiac disease.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This article primarily aims to review critically research in all aspects of celiac disease over the last year. As always, there has been a wealth of relevant papers.

RECENT FINDINGS

The role of genetics in disease susceptibility is slowly becoming more clearly defined and a more detailed understanding of the disease processes at the molecular level is paving the way towards the development of specific targeted therapies.

SUMMARY

Despite recent advances in our understanding of celiac disease, the gluten-free diet remains the only current viable therapy and even with advances in serological tests and markers, the duodenal biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis and monitoring of the response to therapy.