--is one of the world's leading experts on celiac and other gut based autoimmunities.
We've had a lot of discussion on the gut-autoimmune connection here at Neurotalk in the past, particularly on the celiac/gluten sensitivity forum. For a very extensive database on all this, including the mediating effects of zonulin, "tight-junction dysfunction", genetic differences in reaction to antigens, etc., I do recommend perusing The Gluten File, which can be accessed through that forum:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1872.html