Celiac.com 04/20/2004 – According to researchers at the Department of Anatomic Pathology, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI, the cause of flattened villi is not always celiac disease. The researchers studied seven patients who experienced several weeks of gluten-sensitivity and the same type of villi injury—"increased lymphoplasmacytic lamina propria inflammation, moderate to complete villous flattening, numerous crypt mitoses, and markedly increased villous intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs)." All patients were diagnosed with gluten sensitivity, and all returned 9 to 38 weeks later questioning their diagnosis, as their symptoms had substantially or completely disappeared, and clinical improvement in these patients seemed unrelated to their ingestion of gluten. A follow up endoscopy and colonoscopy was performed on these patients 4 to 16 months later, and the results of each showed a normal mucosa.

According to the researchers:

Celiac.com 02/26/2004 - Please note that the sourdough bread used in this study is not your garden-variety sourdough bread, and as far as I know it is not commercially available. Even though this study had very promising results, it was conducted on a relatively small number of people, and larger studies need to be carried out before reaching any conclusions about the long-term safety of celiacs consuming this type of sourdough bread. -Scott Adams

Researchers in Europe conducted a novel study which utilized a highly specialized sourdough lactobacilli containing peptidases that have the ability to hydrolyze Pro-rich peptides, including the 33-mer peptide, which is the main culprit in the immune response associated with celiac disease. The sourdough bread in the study was made from a dough mixture that contained 30% wheat flour and other nontoxic flours including oat, millet, and buckwheat, which was then started with the specialized lactobacilli. After 24 hours of fermentation all 33-mer peptides and low-molecular-mass, alcohol-soluble polypeptides were almost totally hydrolyzed.

For the next step in the study the researchers extracted proteins fro the sourdough and used them to produce a "peptic-tryptic digest" for in vitro agglutination tests on human K 562 subclone cell. The agglutinating activity of the sourdough proteins was found to be 250 times higher that that of normal bakers-yeast or lactobacilli started breads.

A double blind test was then conducted in which 17 celiac disease patients were given 2 grams of gluten-containing bread started with bakers yeast or lactobacilli. Thirteen of them showed distinct, negative changes in their intestinal permeability after eating the bread, and 4 of them did not show any negative effects. The specially prepared sourdough bread was then given to all 17 patients and none of them had intestinal permeability reactions that differed from their normal baseline values.

The researchers conclude: "These results showed that a bread biotechnology that uses selected lactobacilli, nontoxic flours, and a long fermentation time is a novel tool for decreasing the level of gluten intolerance in humans."

Celiac.com 02/18/2004 - A study conducted by researchers in the UK has found that 1% of all seven year old children in the UK have celiac disease, and most cases of celiac disease continue to remain undiagnosed. The researchers tested 5,470 "normal" children using a two stage screening that included an initial radioimmunoassay for antibodies to tissue transglutaminase (endomysial antigen), and a further testing of positive samples for IgA-EMA by indirect immunofluorescence. Children with tTG antibodies under the 97.5th percentile were defined as antibody negative. Out of those tested 54 were positive for IgA-EMA. Additionally: "IgA-EMA positive children were shorter and weighed less than those who tested negative for tTG antibody."

The Researchers Comment:

Conclusion:

"Occult coeliac disease seems to start in childhood, even in those who are subsequently diagnosed as adults. The search for the trigger resulting in the breakdown of immune tolerance to gluten therefore needs to focus on infancy and intrauterine life."

Celiac.com 10/30/2003 – A Dutch research team has identified the specific regions of chromosome 19 that contribute to celiac disease. Despite its well-known association with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2 and DQ8, the pathogenesis of celiac disease has remained largely unknown. The team studied 82 Dutch families who met strict diagnostic criteria which included biopsies that presented Marsh III lesions. The 216 independent celiac disease patients were compared to 216 age and sex-matched controls.

As expected the study found significant linkage to the suspected HLA region, but more importantly found additional, previously unknown and significant linkages at 19p13.1 (with a peak at marker D19S899), and at 6q21-22, which is ~70 cm downstream from the HLA region in question. The researchers conclude: "Significant linkage of celiac disease to chromosome region 19p13.1 was detected in our genome-wide screen. These results were confirmed by the association of D19S899 to celiac disease in an independent case-control cohort. Furthermore, we identified a possible second celiac disease locus on chromosome region 6q21-22."

The study was dedicated to the memory of Lodewijk Sandkuijl (1953-2002), who died shortly after its completion. He was an inspiration to the researchers and was a world expert on biostatistics.

Here is the abstract:

Scand J Caring Sci. 2003 Sep;17(3):301-7

Celiac.com 09/03/2003 - A recent study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences looked at the differences in how men and women cope with celiac disease. The study concludes that gender should be taken into account in the treatment of celiac disease to improve its outcome. The biggest flaw in this study is with the number of people in it—only 10. I think that it is difficult to draw such conclusions using such a small sample of people, and that a larger study of this type needs to be done to draw more solid conclusions. Additionally, the poorer outcome for women in this study may be due to the fact that they experienced more bowel-related symptoms than did the men, which may not be due at all to their "emotionally oriented strategy" of coping. It could just be a fact that women with celiac disease experience more real health problems than men, which is also in need of further study. - Scott Adams

Here is the abstract:

Celiac.com 08/07/2003 - An Italian study conducted by Dr. L. Bonomo and colleagues and published in the July 2003 edition of Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology concludes that A significant proportion of coeliacs may be missed if relatives are screened by serology only, while the efficacy of sorbitol H2-BT in screening relatives is confirmed. This study confirms that neither a breath test nor serology can replace intestinal biopsy, which remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of celiac disease, thus confirming the continued importance of performing biopsies for diagnosing celiac disease. The studys goal was to determine the diagnostic capabilities of serological tests (antigliadin (AGA), antiendomysium (EMA) and anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-tTG)) and sorbitol H2 breath test (H2-BT) in the detection of celiac disease in first-degree relatives. The study screened 111 first-degree relatives of 37 celiac families using both test methods to determine candidates for small-bowel biopsy. First-degree relatives with abnormal test results underwent a small-bowel biopsy, as did those with negative serological and H2 breath test results who had clinical complaints or suspected that they may have celiac disease.

The biopsy results were expressed using the Marsh classification system, and celiac disease was diagnosed in 49 of the 111 screened relatives of celiacs, or in 44.14%. A breakdown of the results is as follows: 5 showed Marsh IIIc, 8 Marsh IIIb, 16 Marsh IIIa, 13 Marsh II and 7 Marsh I lesions. 19 relatives showed the classical form of celiac disease, 20 showed the sub-clinical form, and 10 showed the silent form. The serological test results indicated an overall positivity of only 36.73%, with strong positive results only in those with severe intestinal damage and Marsh IIIb-c lesions. The sorbitol H2-BT breath test results showed an overall positivity of 83.67%, and showed strong positivity in patients with slight histological damage (Marsh I-IIIa).

Celiac.com 07/31/2003 - The findings of this new study are very significant for families of those with celiac disease. The results indicate that 17% of those related to two celiac disease-diagnosed siblings will also have the disease. Past studies have shown that around 10% of first-degree relatives of celiacs also have it, but this study is unique as it focuses on the increased risk for families where two siblings have the disease. This study further emphasizes the conclusions of past studies: If you have a relative with celiac disease--get tested, especially if it is a first-degree relative. - Scott Adams

Celiac.com 07/30/2003 - The following abstract paints a fairly bleak picture for those of us with celiac disease; however, after taking a closer look at it I believe that it has some serious limitations that should not be overlooked, and have likely produced skewed or irrelevant results. For example, the study does not indicate whether or not the patients in it followed a strict gluten-free diet. Other studies have shown that the mortality risk for celiacs decreases to that of the normal population when a gluten-free diet is followed for at least five years, and that it is also affected by how soon the diagnosis is made and how soon treatment begins. It is well known that not following a gluten-free diet will increase a celiacs risk of death by many causes to many times that of the normal population, which is precisely why it is so important to include such information in studies of this type. In my opinion doing a study like this and not including such data is like doing a study on diabetes where perhaps half or more people in the study do not take insulin but ought to, and then publishing the ultra-high mortality rate that would be its outcome: "Conclusion: Diabetics have a 20-fold mortality rate over the normal population." The conclusion would clearly not be true for those who took their insulin.

Additionally the time period that is covered by this study, 1964-1993, could be considered the dark ages of celiac disease, even in Europe (we actually may be just entering the Renaissance age for celiac disease here in the USA, but this could be argued!). Many doctors during this time did not stress enough to their patients the importance of following a strict gluten-free diet, just as many still do not even do this day. My doctor didnt. He just diagnosed me and said I shouldnt eat gluten (as opposed to telling me that it could kill me if I kept eating it), and he didnt even explain to me HOW to avoid it! Is it possible that some of the folks in this study, diagnosed as far back as 1964, might have had similar experiences with their doctors? I would be willing to bet that at least 50% of the people in this study (if not more) were not following a strict gluten-free diet, or were not following the diet at all. If this is true, it is kind of like studying a group of diabetics whose only treatment was to be told by their doctors that they should avoid sugar, which seems absurd if you think about it.

Last, the study has considerable bias in that it recruited only hospitalized celiacs, presumably because they were already significantly ill, and those who never made it into a hospital were excluded. It reports findings of auto-immune diseases and small bowel/lymphomaexcesses--these are already well known--but what other researchers may disagree with is the scale of the excess--SMR is always a very crude method ofexpressing this in such studies. - Scott Adams (special thanks to Dr. Geoff Helliwell for his comments on this study)

Celiac.com 05/08/2003 - In a study from Finland in 1986 it was shown that celiac disease was often associated with tooth enamel defects of permanent teeth. This study also showed a strong association between the time of gluten challenge in the diagnostic procedure and enamel defects. In the current study, dental examinations were carried out for a group of 40 children and adolescents suffering from celiac disease diagnosed according to the criteria of The European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (ESPGAN) at the Department of Pediatrics, Hospital of Uddevalla, Sweden. A control group made of 40 healthy children of the same age, sex and living area was examined in the same way. The results failed to show disturbances of the same type, degree of severity or frequency as was reported in Finland and no statistically significant differences concerning enamel defects were found between the patients with celiac disease and the controls.

PMID: 11484467

Celiac.com 03/28/2003 - A study by Antonio Tursi, M.D, et al, was recently conducted to evaluate the correlation between the degree of histologic intestinal damage in celiac patients and their level of positivity (serum value) to anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (anti-tTG). The study looked at 119 adult celiac patients who were diagnosed consecutively (47 men and 72 women; mean age, 28 years; range, 22-51 years), and were stratified for histologic damage according to Marsh classification. The final step was to compare their Marsh histologic intestinal damage classification with their anti-tTG serum values. Here are their results:

The researchers conclude that the mean serum value in celiacs with severe enteropathy (Marsh IIIb-c lesions) was higher than in those with only slight enteropathy (Marsh I-IIIa). Further, serologic test results in the absence of histologic evaluation (biopsy) may "underestimate the real prevalence of celiac disease," thus delaying a proper diagnosis and putting patients at risk for a large variety of serious health problems.