What is the condition of refractory sprue?
Patients who at first respond and appear to do well on the gluten-free diet may subsequently relapse despite maintaining the diet treatment. Such patients are then seen as being refractory to diet therapy. Some refractory patients with celiac disease will typically respond to treatment with corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive drugs such as azathioprine, cyclophosphamide or clyclosporine. In other cases, there is no response to either drug nor to diet treatment and malsbsorption may be progressive. Q: What is meant by lectin interaction? A: It has been suggested that primary abnormality in the composition of the surface glycoproteins on epithelial cell apical membranes results in exposure of distinctive sugar residues that selectively bind toxic gliadin fractions in celiac sprue patients. The gliadin fraction might then damage the intestinal epithelium, much as cytotoxic plant lectins damage cells after binding to their surface glycoconjugates. That plant lectins are capable of d
