Genetic Markers for Celiac Testing

Those patients for whom there is a high suspicion for celiac disease should have a small bowel biopsy which can be obtained by an experienced endoscopist in the distal duodendum. The best noninvasive tests available for screening for asymptomatic celiac disease are the specific serological tests. These are of several varieties: the anti-gliadin, anti-endomysial, or anti-reticulin antibodies. Our experience and the literature support the use as of endomysial antibody test as the single most specific and probably most sensitive for celiac disease. This test has now become available in specialty laboratories as well as in a small number of academic institutions. All of the tests should be done with the subjects on a normal gluten containing diet. A combination of endomysial and gliadin...

J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2004 May 13
Piper JL, Gray GM, Khosla C. Stanford University.
Celiac.com 11/28/2004 - A study by researchers at Stanford University looked at the ability of Prolyl endopeptidase (PEP)--a specific type of enzyme--to break down gliadin peptides in a living organism--rats. In an effort to determine whether a resistance to the break down of proteins by proteases enzymes is the cause of toxicity of the Pro- and Gln-rich peptides, the scientists analyzed the digestive resistance of a panel of alpha and gamma-gliadin peptides that are believed to induce gluten toxicity--all of which happen to be very resistant to gastric and pancreatic protease digestion--but can be broken down by intestinal brush border peptidases. The researchers determined that supplementation...

If you would like to learn more about celiac disease genetic testing, or read about my personal experience with Kimball Genetics, be sure to read the following two related articles:
Open Original Shared Link Open Original Shared Link Celiac.com 11/29/2006 - Kimball Genetics, Inc. announces its participation this week at the XII International Celiac Disease Symposium in New York City and its support of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. Kimball Genetics has a strong commitment to celiac disease education and genetic testing for this common, chronic, autoimmune disorder. Celiac disease affects approximately 1% of the U.S. population but is highly underdiagnosed, with less than 10% of cases currently detected. In genetically susceptible individuals with the...

Celiac.com 05/21/2012 - A trio of researchers recently compared duodenal and jejunal small intestinal biopsies for diagnosis and follow-up of celiac disease. The researchers included J.W. Meijer, P.J. Wahab, and C.J. Mulder from the Department of Pathology, Rijnstate Hospital Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Current pediatric guidelines advise doctors to take intestinal mucosal specimens from the jejunum using a suction capsule.
This method can be stressful for patients, time-consuming, expensive and requires the use of imaging technology.
Taking mucosal biopsies from the distal duodenum using forceps is less stressful for patients, easier, cheaper and can be done using an endoscope.
For those reasons, the researchers wanted to compare the histological results of biopsies taken from...