Gluten, a wheat protein, contains epitopes that trigger celiac disease (CD). So far, there is no treatment available for CD other than following a life-long, strict gluten-free diet (GFD). A very low-gluten or gluten-free wheat could provide an alternative treatment to CD. Till date, conventional plant breeding methods are not sufficient to produce celiac-safe wheat. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) is a versatile gene-editing system may efficiently edit the immunogenic gluten protein thereby producing a celiac-safe wheat variety. However, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing system has not been widely investigated to edit the wheat genome. Published literature available on various scientific platforms, that applied the CRISPR/Cas9 system to edit the wheat genome were explored. Only original research articles were included. Review articles, protocols, scientific presentations, and Ph.D. thesis were excluded. CRISPR/Cas9 is a highly specific gene-editing technology that can be used to efficiently edit the complex hexaploid wheat genome. It targets a specific wheat genome locus, delete an immunogenic gene and replace it with a preferred gene. CRISPR/Cas9 technology could be a breakthrough in providing an alternative treatment for CD. However, further studies are required to efficiently apply this gene-editing technology to develop a celiac-safe wheat variety.

Facebook (FB) is the most popular online networking platform. There are several FB pages dedicated to spreading awareness about the Celiac disease (CD). To get the latest information, a huge number of CD patients follow Celiac disease Facebook (CD-FB) pages. Such pages frequently post beneficial information. However, very less is known if they provide appropriate information to CD patients. We conducted this study to know if CD-FB pages spread misleading information to CD patients. CD-FB pages from three celiac-influenced countries were explored using the FB platform and Google search engine. From October 2021 to April 2022, a total of 147 CD-FB, Italy (n=63), the USA (n=46), and India (n=38), were found eligible. Of them, 13% of pages (followers Mean±SD; Italy 2478±2011; USA 12635±12486; India 667±313) shared misleading information, particularly about gluten-free ingredients, and treatment of CD. In total,16% of CD-FB pages discussed alternative treatments option. Surprisingly, 7% of pages (followers Mean±SD; USA 23800±10465; India 628±333) supported alternative treatments for CD. CD-FB pages are useful for disseminating celiac-related information. While most of such pages provide useful information, a few pages sometimes contain misleading information. CD patients must consult their treating unit before following any uncertain information posted on CD-FB pages.