Vijay Kumar, M.D., Research Associate Professor at the University of Buffalo and President and Director of IMMCO Diagnostics: If the tests are performed using well standardized tests with known positive and negative predictive values then you can make the statement that if the serological tests are negative celiac disease can virtually be ruled out. The problem is that some of these assays, especially the gliadin, can give you false positive results. In our laboratory we rarely see positive AGA results in the absence of EMA and ARA antibodies.
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By Scott Adams
By Scott Adams •
Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.One case I know of had elevated gliadins (both types) but normal EMA and ARA, plus an inconclusive biopsy. Do you see this often?**
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Scott Adams was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1994. Faced with a critical lack of resources, he dedicated himself to becoming an expert on the condition to achieve his own recovery.
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Vijay Kumar, M.D., Research Associate Professor at the University of Buffalo and President and Director of IMMCO Diagnostics: The three serological tests that are used for diagnosing celiac disease are:
Anti-endomysial antibody (EMA) Anti-reticulin antibody (ARA) Anti-gliadin antibody (AGA) Each of these three tests provide a certain degree of reliability for diagnosing celiac disease. Of these, endomysial antibody is the most specific test. The following table is taken from our studies (Lerner, Kumar, Iancu, Immunological diagnosis of childhood coeliac disease: comparison between antigliadin, antireticulin and antiendomysial antibodies).
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Vijay Kumar, M.D., Research Associate Professor at the University of Buffalo and President and Director of IMMCO Diagnostics: Absolutely yes. For the test to provide meaningful results, it must be validated using a large number of clinical documented subjects. In addition, the two tests, endomysial and reticulin are immunofluorescent tests where the readings are subjective. Experienced laboratory personnel are needed to read such tests.
Karoly Horvath, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Peds GI Nutrition Laboratory; University of Maryland at Baltimore: There are several advantages to use a laboratory experienced with the celiac serological tests:
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For 100 units of whole grain wheat, about 70 units of white flour results from the milling process. The rest is separately sold as wheat bran or wheat germ. Those 70 units of flour are about 10%- 15% protein, thus about 7 to 10 units of protein for 100 units of whole wheat. The protein is about 80% gluten, thus about 6 to 8 units of gluten for 100 units of whole wheat. Since one typically sees wheat flour as an ingredient, applying the 70% factor implies 8 to 12 units of gluten per 100 units of wheat flour.
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Celiac.com 02/05/2023 - If you have celiac disease symptoms, for example chronic diarrhea, anemia, bloating, abdominal pain, rashes, are in a higher risk group, etc., your doctor may order a blood test for celiac disease. Note that before doing any blood tests for celiac disease you must be eating gluten for a while beforehand, and the amount and length of time can vary, but is somewhere between 2 slices of wheat bread daily for 6-8 weeks and 1/2 slice of wheat bread or 1 wheat cracker for 12 weeks, otherwise you may end up with false negative results.
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- Scott Adams replied to MicG's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms7Test interpretations
Based on those results alone, it’s not possible to say you have celiac disease. The test that is usually most specific for celiac, tTG-IgA, is negative in your results, and the endomysial antibody (EMA) is also negative, which generally argues against active celiac disease. However, your deamidated gliadin IgA is elevated, and your total IgA level is also h...
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