Researchers have discovered the “trigger point” for coeliac disease, finding the first molecular interaction the body uses to launch its immune response against gluten.

By investigating how the wheat protein gliadin in gluten causes a reaction, researchers hope to create better treatments and diagnostics for the disease.

A team from Monash University, the University of Melbourne and Leiden University in the Netherlands used studies conducted in Australia to shed light on an important molecular “docking” mechanism.

Researcher Dr Hugh Reid says coeliac disease is an immune response against gluten, which causes it to be misinterpreted as a foreign and toxic substance by certain T cells, which then seek to fight it.

Dr Reid says the findings published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology show the details of the immune response in about 95 per cent of coeliac sufferers, who carry one genes linked to disease susceptibility.

“It’s the first time we’ve been able to observe the actual triggering point of initiation of the response in coeliac disease,” Dr Reid said.

“We’d like to try to interfere with this interaction with therapeutics, like a vaccine, that could turn off the immune response.”

The work has been funded by US biotech company Immusan T, which wants to develop and patent a vaccine against coeliac disease.