Zedira, a biotech company located in Darmstadt, Germany, has made a commitment to celiac disease and transglutaminase. Our approach to the disorder is multifaceted.

Research & Development: Celiac disease is a multi-system, multi-symptom disorder. The cause and mechanisms underlying the pathological response are not completely understood. In order to assist investigators studying celiac disease, Zedira will provide scientists worldwide with specialty reagents for basic research. The products have resulted from our extensive research, which was funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research).

Diagnosis: Until recently, celiac disease was considered to be a rare disease. However, serological studies have now shown that about 1% of the population is affected by the disorder.
Zedira provides the standard antigens tissue transglutaminase (TG2) and deamidated gliadin peptides (DGP) for celiac disease diagnostics as well as epidermal transglutaminase (TG3) for dermatitis herpetiformis diagnostics.
Our researchers currently developed the second generation antigen for celiac disease diagnostics: Open tTG^TM: tissue transglutaminase stabilized in its open conformation which reveals novel epitopes (Lindfors et al., J. Clin. Immunol., 2011).
The recently identified neuronal transglutaminase (TG6) can be used to detect neurological disorders caused by gluten (Hadjivassiliou et al, Ann. Neurol. 2008, 64:332-43 and Lancet Neurol. 2010, 9:318-30).

Therapy: At present, celiac disease cannot be treated by pharmacological intervention. Currently, the only treatment available to patients with celiac disease is strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. Because gluten is present in a large number of foodstuffs in Europe and the US, adherence to a gluten-free diet in Western society is difficult and requires drastic lifestyle changes. Moreover, inappropriate diets, intended or unintended, can lead to serious secondary disorders. For that reason Zedira is developing a drug to treat celiac disease.

Concluding remarks:
Zedira emphatically points out that the company is not allowed to give any medical advice. Patients must be correctly diagnosed and treated by a qualified physician only. Further information on celiac disease and diet guidance is available from several national celiac disease organizations. You will find the websites of the national European celiac disease societies on the homepage of the Association of the European Celiac Societies (www.aoecs.org). In North America there are several societies, e.g. the Canadian Celiac Association (www.celiac.ca), the Celiac Sprue Association (www.csaceliacs.org) and the Celiac Society (www.celiacsociety.com).

We appreciate receiving your comments and suggestions: contact@zedira.com