Coeliac Disease

Proceeding of the 10th International Symposium. Coeliac disease is again in front of the stage. After the advent of intestinal biopsy in clinical practice in the early sixties and during the following years, coeliac disease gained its status of a disease exemplary of the immune reaction of the gut mucosa to food antigens. During the following 10-15 years coeliac disease vanished behind progresses in mucosal immunology, and in the molecular biology of HLA molecules. The last years have seen the transformation of coeliac disease, from a rare and serious malabsorption syndrome into a polymorphic condition, the "coeliac iceberg" the immersed part of which now raises important public health issues. Regular International Symposium witness the development of our knowledge concerning coeliac disease. The last International Symposium on coeliac disease took place in Paris, at the Pasteur Institute in June 2-5, 2002. Its aim was to equally underline the major progresses made during the recent years in epidemiology, the genetics, the pathophysiology of the intestinal lesions and in the serological methods of diagnosis, the new clinical aspects of the disease and the more accurate evaluation of the risk of cancer, lesser than previously estimated. We hope that these proceeding will fulfil the expectations of all those, scientists as well as clinicians, paediatricians or adult gastroenterologists, who wish to update their knowledge on coeliac disease, this old but still stimulating lady of gastroenterology.