At Digestive Disease Week 2025, Max Manwaring-Mueller from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging presented exciting new findings that bring us closer to that goal. His presentation was based on compelling new findings from the CDGEMM Study—a global research effort led by Massachusetts General Hospital exploring how genetics and the environment shape the development of celiac disease in at-risk children.
Although genetic susceptibility (HLA-DQ2/DQ8) is required, the steady rise in celiac disease incidence points to the importance of environmental factors. The CDGEMM team applied exposomic analysis, evaluating a child’s total environmental exposures, to identify patterns that may predict disease onset.
Among 423 children studied:
- Breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life was protective.
- Gluten intake between 7-15 months was linked to increased risk of celiac disease.
- Girls were more likely to develop celiac disease with 70% of those who seroconverted female.
- Older siblings were more likely than younger siblings to develop celiac disease, highlighting a possible birth order effect.
These insights help refine our understanding of when and how celiac disease may develop in genetically susceptible children. The team is now working to apply machine learning to predict time-to-disease onset based on these early-life exposures, potentially paving the way for targeted prevention.