# Organ-Specific Autoantibodies Linked to Dietary Gluten in Celiac Disease Patients



## JeanG (Oct 20, 1999)

The url for this article is: http://www.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2000/...907clin016.html Organ-Specific Autoantibodies Linked toDietary Gluten in Celiac Disease Patients WESTPORT, Sep 07 (Reuters Health) - Patients with celiac disease have highlevels of diabetes- and thyroid-related autoantibodies that "disappear" when thepatients are placed on a gluten-free diet. The finding confirms the high prevalence of organ-specific autoantibodies in patientswith celiac disease, and supports the theory that these antibodies aregluten-dependent, Dr. Alessandro Ventura, of the Universita di Trieste, Italy, andcolleagues say in the August issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. The investigators tested 90 children with celiac disease for serum antibodies to isletcells, glutamic acid decarboxylase, insulin, and thyroperoxidase. The overallprevalence of diabetes- and thyroid-related autoantibodies was 11.1% and 14.4%,respectively. Prior studies have suggested that the presence of organ-specific autoantibodies inpatients with celiac disease is "related to the presence of a second autoimmunedisease." However, the fact that serum organ-specific autoantibodies tended todisappear in the current study when patients were placed on a gluten-free dietsupports the position that these antibodies are at least partly gluten-dependent. "A gluten-free diet started early may prevent the other autoimmune diseasesfrequently associated with celiac disease," Dr. Ventura and colleagues hypothesize.However, further studies will be needed to determine the clinical significance of theorgan-specific autoantibodies in these patients and to confirm this hypothesis. J Pediatr 2000;137:263-265.


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## Island girl (Jul 24, 2000)

That was really, really interesting, Jean. Far reaching implications too. Thanks.


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## mark44 (Sep 14, 2000)

I have researched Celiac sprue and decided it's not what I have, since I went off wheat for long stretches and my symptoms continued; I assume that's a safe assumption. Comments? Are there a lot of Celiacs here? (I thought we were all IBS people.)


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