How Useful is Human Leukocyte Antigen Typing for Celiac Disease Screening?

Celiac.com 08/10/2015 - The presence of specific human leukocyte antigen-DQ2 and DQ8 seems to be necessary for celiac disease development, but its usefulness for screening is still uncertain.

A research team recently set out to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic performance of human leukocyte antigen typing tests for celiac disease screening. The research team included A. Díaz-Redondo, J. Miranda-Bautista, J. García-Lledó, J.P. Gisbert, and L. Menchén. They are variously affiliated with the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain, and with the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

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The team conducted a systematic review of published studies assessing accuracy of human leukocyte antigen DQ2 and DQ8 typing for the detection of celiac disease. They searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for the period running from 1st January 2004 until 31st December 2013 and used two independent researchers to carry out selection and classification of studies, data extraction and analysis.

The team conducted meta-analysis that combined sensitivities, specificities and likelihood ratios of HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 for the diagnosis of celiac disease and ended up with six studies that included a total of 1303 people. The results showed pooled sensitivity at 98%, with 95% confidence interval: 97-99. Overall specificity was 45% (95% confidence interval: 41-48).

Regarding specificity, studies were heterogeneous and a the team ran a subgroup analysis according to the type of population included. Overall negative likelihood ratio was 0.05 (0.03-0.09).

Because it offers high sensitivity and low negative likelihood ratio, the team concludes that human leukocyte antigen-DQ2/DQ8 typing makes an appropriate test for ruling out celiac disease in the general population suffering related symptoms, and even more in at risk population.

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