[carynanne]

I must not be understanding this correctly. Is the tranglutaminase test for antibodies to gluten? And if so, how can there be any antibodies to gluten at all in the blood stream and the patient not be considered gluten sensitive? I can understand how a higher concentration of antibodies could suggest a higher sensitivity, but if there are any antibodies at all in someone's system, doesn't that suggest that their bodies are recognizing gluten as an invader?

[Gemini]

carynanne, on Oct 30 2009, 12:50 PM, said:

I must not be understanding this correctly. Is the tranglutaminase test for antibodies to gluten? And if so, how can there be any antibodies to gluten at all in the blood stream and the patient not be considered gluten sensitive? I can understand how a higher concentration of antibodies could suggest a higher sensitivity, but if there are any antibodies at all in someone's system, doesn't that suggest that their bodies are recognizing gluten as an invader?

The tTg test checks for the level of intestinal damage and is not a measurement of antigliadin antibodies in the blood stream. It is not linear either.....some people with very high numbers have less damage than others with lower numbers. Other autoimmune problems, linked to Celiac Disease can cause elevated tTg also, such as Hashimoto's thyroid disease, autoimmune liver disease, etc.

The correct test to check for antibodies in the blood are the AGA IgA and AGA IgG tests. The AGA stands for antigliadin. These numbers want to be as low as possible, when retesting for dietary compliance. There really is no zero expected with this test result and that's why you are given a normal range to shoot for but you want it to be, preferably, low normal. However,as long as you are in the normal range, that is good and perfectly acceptable. As gluten is such a huge part of the American food chain, it would be nearly impossible to test zero. The levels given for the normal range are not high enough to cause an autoimmune reaction and that's the key. If they did, the test would require zero as normal and that is not possible. You are exposed to gluten daily but have to ingest it or inhale a larger amount to trigger your autoimmune system.

I have retested consistently very low normal on mine and, as I am asymptomatic, I tend to believe what doctors and lab techs have told me.

[psawyer]

Like many tests, this one is not 100% accurate. In a perfect world it would react exclusively to the antibody it is designed to detect, but that is not the case, so a small positive can come from other sources than the gluten antibody.