Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2026; 32(44): 122239
Published online Nov 28, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.122239
Published online Nov 28, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.122239
Mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with celiac disease: A multidimensional study
Bayian Habudai, Sheng-Long Xue, Wen-Jie Kong, Lin Yu, Tian Shi, Jing-Jing Xie, Ruxianguli Maimaiti, Feng Gao, Department of Gastroenterology, People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830001, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
Bayian Habudai, Sheng-Long Xue, Wen-Jie Kong, Lin Yu, Tian Shi, Jing-Jing Xie, Feng Gao, Xinjiang Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases, Urumqi 830001, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
Co-first authors: Bayian Habudai, Sheng-Long Xue.
Author contributions: Habudai B and Xue SL contributed equally to this work and share first authorship. Xue SL and Gao F contributed to conceptualization, resources, and writing - review and editing; Habudai B, Kong WJ, and Yu L contributed to data curation; Habudai B contributed to formal analysis, methodology, and writing - original draft; Gao F contributed to funding acquisition and project administration; Habudai B, Xue SL, Xie JJ, and Maimaiti R contributed to investigation; Habudai B and Maimaiti R contributed to software; Xue SL, Shi T, and Gao F contributed to supervision; Habudai B and Gao F contributed to visualization.
AI contribution statement: The authors declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted technologies were used in the writing or analysis of this manuscript. When we were writing our responses to the reviewers, we used Deepseek and DeepL as aids, mainly for translating parts of the Chinese draft and checking English grammar and fluency.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82460117.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region People’s Hospital (approval No. KY2024120189). The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Before enrollment, each participant received a detailed explanation of the study’s purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits. All participants were informed that their participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw at any time without affecting their medical care. After this explanation, each participant provided written informed consent prior to any study-related procedure. For healthy control subjects undergoing endoscopy solely for research purposes, additional detailed information was provided, and specific written consent was obtained.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Due to the sensitive nature of the human tissue samples and clinical information collected from participants (including duodenal biopsies, blood test results, and demographic data), and in accordance with the ethical approval granted by the Ethics Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region People’s Hospital (approval No. KY2024120189), the data are not publicly available to protect patient confidentiality and privacy. All relevant data are presented within the article and its Supplementary material. Researchers who wish to access the raw data should contact the corresponding author (Feng Gao, email: xjgf@sina.com) with a methodologically sound proposal and after obtaining necessary institutional review board approval, where applicable.
Corresponding author: Feng Gao, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, No. 91 Tianchi Road, Tianshan District, Urumqi 830001, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. xjgf@sina.com
Received: April 15, 2026
Revised: May 15, 2026
Accepted: June 29, 2026
Published online: November 28, 2026
Processing time: 169 Days and 20.3 Hours
Revised: May 15, 2026
Accepted: June 29, 2026
Published online: November 28, 2026
Processing time: 169 Days and 20.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study provides the first multidimensional evidence of structural and functional mitochondrial damage in the duodenal mucosa of patients with active celiac disease, including ultrastructural abnormalities, impaired energy metabolism, increased oxidative stress, imbalanced mitochondrial dynamics, and reduced mitochondrial DNA copy number. These findings offer new experimental insights into the pathogenesis of celiac disease.