**Abstract**

Celiac disease (CD) affects approximately 1% of the population in Europe and North America, but the number of patients currently undiagnosed is estimated to be far higher than that of diagnosed cases owing to the presence of prevalent forms with nonspecific symptoms. The toxicity of gliadin in children with CD is not destroyed through digestion with gastropancreatic enzymes. An innate immunity to gliadin plays a key role in the development of CD. Autophagy, a physiological catabolic process, plays also a crucial role in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases. Recent studies have described functional involvement of the regulation of autophagy within a pediatric CD cohort. Furthermore, the contribution of autophagy has been highlighted in the degradation and in the reduction of extracellular release of gliadin peptides, thus suggesting novel molecular targets to counteract gliadin-induced toxicity in CD.

**Keywords:** gluten, autophagy, celiac disease, gluten-free foods, gluten-free diet
