High Igg But No Issues With Gluten

[Nebraskamommy]

Is it true that part of the general population has high igg levels to wheat/gluten but they are not celiac nor have any gluten sensitivities?

If the only thing high on your celiac panel is igg ( ema negative, tTg iga normal) would that be cause for concern alone?

[GottaSki]

Exactly which IgG based celiac antibody test? 

 

Would like to help, but I don't understand the question.

[maitrimama]

Here is a little blurb from the ACDA -

"If a patient’s celiac panel is only positive for antigliadin IgG, this is not highly suggestive for CELIAC DISEASE if the patient has a normal total IgA level, corrected for age. Younger children make less IgA than older children and adults. A markedly elevated antigliadin IgG, such as greater than three to four times the upper limit of normal for that lab, is highly suggestive of a condition where the gut is leakier to gluten. This can happen in food allergies, cystic fibrosis, parasitic infections, Crohn’s disease, and other types of autoimmune GI diseases. These antibodies may also be slightly elevated in individuals with no obvious disease."

My daughter has very few GI symptoms but overwhelming fatigue & achiness (pain) when she eats gluten. When her doctor did endo/coloscopy he was surprised at the amount of damage already done to her villi and also diagnosed her with IBD (thankfully in remission). symptoms vary greatly from person to person. That was 2 1/2 years ago and we are actually going up to Yale next week for another endo/coloscopy. It will be interesting to see what they find now.

Oh yeah, her original blood work and stool samples were positive for celiacs and they thought something else was going on despite her mild symptoms.

[Nebraskamommy]

my son  had celiac panel and got a weak positive on the ttg igg.

TTg iga <2 ( range 0-3 negative, 4-10 weak positive, >10 positive)
TTg igg 8 (range 0-5 negative, 6-9 weak positive, > 9 positive)
immunoglobulin a, an, serum is 43 ( range 44-189)

 

however he also did a food allergy igg test and it came back high for the following.

yogurt, wheat, milk, gluten, egg white, caesin, beef, pinto beans, whey, barley, kidney bean, cheese, gliadian, cheese, goat cheese, brewers yeast and egg yolk.

also tested moderate to 7 other foods.

 

doesnt this show that the gut is leaky?

couldn't it just be that his gut is leaky to a lot of foods, and therefore its not necessarily celiacs?

 

upon removal of wheat and dairy his constipation went away (he'd been suffering from it for 2 years).

 

my question is if a certain % of the general population has high igg levels to wheat, how do u know if you're in that % v. celiacs?

we are not going to biopsy. thanks

[GottaSki]

my son  had celiac panel and got a weak positive on the ttg igg.

TTg iga <2 ( range 0-3 negative, 4-10 weak positive, >10 positive)

TTg igg 8 (range 0-5 negative, 6-9 weak positive, > 9 positive)

immunoglobulin a, an, serum is 43 ( range 44-189)

 

however he also did a food allergy igg test and it came back high for the following.

yogurt, wheat, milk, gluten, egg white, caesin, beef, pinto beans, whey, barley, kidney bean, cheese, gliadian, cheese, goat cheese, brewers yeast and egg yolk.

also tested moderate to 7 other foods.

 

doesnt this show that the gut is leaky?

couldn't it just be that his gut is leaky to a lot of foods, and therefore its not necessarily celiacs?

 

upon removal of wheat and dairy his constipation went away (he'd been suffering from it for 2 years).

 

my question is if a certain % of the general population has high igg levels to wheat, how do u know if you're in that % v. celiacs?

we are not going to biopsy. thanks

 

 

One way will be to retest after three and six months gluten-free.  The antibodies should come down if all gluten is removed (and was the cause of the elevation).

 

Another is symptom improvement/resolution while gluten-free.

 

Edited to be clear:

 

I am talking about re-testing the celiac antibody test that was positive (tTG-IgG)

 

Hope that is clear.

[IrishHeart]

 

 

however he also did a food allergy igg test and it came back high for the following.

yogurt, wheat, milk, gluten, egg white, caesin, beef, pinto beans, whey, barley, kidney bean, cheese, gliadian, cheese, goat cheese, brewers yeast and egg yolk.

also tested moderate to 7 other foods.

 

doesnt this show that the gut is leaky?

 

 

IgE tests food allergies.

 

What "IgG" testing did you do for him? IgG testing does not diagnose food allergies, hon.

 

Food allergy symptoms are caused by the interaction between a food allergen and an antibody known as IgE (immunoglobulin E). To diagnose a food allergy, your allergist may use a skin prick test (SPT) to measure the presence of IgE antibodies for the suspect food. SPTs are inexpensive, produce immediate results, and can be performed in the doctor’s office. Positive tests, however, are not always accurate.  About 50-60 percent of all SPTs yield “false positive” results, meaning that the test shows positive even though you are not really allergic to the food being tested."

 

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[Nebraskamommy]

IgE tests food allergies.

 

What "IgG" testing did you do for him? IgG testing does not diagnose food allergies, hon.

 

Food allergy symptoms are caused by the interaction between a food allergen and an antibody known as IgE (immunoglobulin E). To diagnose a food allergy, your allergist may use a skin prick test (SPT) to measure the presence of IgE antibodies for the suspect food. SPTs are inexpensive, produce immediate results, and can be performed in the doctor’s office. Positive tests, however, are not always accurate.  About 50-60 percent of all SPTs yield “false positive” results, meaning that the test shows positive even though you are not really allergic to the food being tested."

 

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we did the ELISA test. I was told it tests for intolerances not true allergies.

[IrishHeart]

we did the ELISA test. I was told it tests for intolerances not true allergies.

 

 

okay, but you said "allergies" in your post, so I was wondering and wanted to make this clear.

 

And who ran the ELISA test? At this time, there are no valid tests for food intolerances.

 

"There is no IgG testing of value," said Robert Wood, a professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. "All of us make IgG to the foods we eat, and they are not related to disease, including food intolerance."

 

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[Cara in Boston]

My son's tests were all normal except the IgG ones.  He had no classic celiac symptoms.  He does not have the common gene for celiac.  They did a biopsy and found extensive celiac damage.  

[skelly247]

Okay, quick science break here :-p

Your body makes a number of different Immunoglobulin proteins (Ig_, also known as antibodies), each with their own function.  IgG and IgA are the two types of immunoglobulins that celiac patients make against Tissue Transglutaminase (tTg, the enzyme that processes gluten), Deamidated Gliadin (DGP, a processed form of the gluten) and the Endomysium (the stuff that holds your intestines together).  Somewhere around 5% of celiac patients don't make the proper amount of IgA against ANYTHING, so their IgA results are useless which is why doctors also test the IgG antibodies for those proteins.  In celiac disease, these antibodies trigger the body to destroy the cells that contain their targets (tTg or DGP in this case), leading to a flattening of the vili and issues absorbing nutrients from food.    Only testing positive on one of the 5 tests (IgA/IgG tTg, IgA/IgG DGP, EMA) doesn't necessarily mean you have celiac disease.  I believe the most reliable of the tests is the IgA tTg test (I think it has a less than 1% false positive rate).  As quoted above, it seems like only testing positive on the IgG DGP is indicative of a few different disorders, not just celiac disease. 

IgE, on the other hand, has a different function than IgA or IgG.  IgE stimulates the release of a chemical called histamine which causes your body to swell up, get itchy and leak fluids.  Depending on which exact histamine response your body has, this can be anything from hives to your face swelling up to your throat swelling shut.  Having high IgE levels against anything doesn't indicate that your gut is leaky because most of your food eventually gets absorbed, it means that your body (mistakenly) recognizes the food as something that needs to be killed with histamine. 

It is possible to have high levels of celiac antibody as well as intestinal damage and have no symptoms.  A friend of mine only found out they had celiac because their sister was symptomatic and as a 1st degree relative, the doctor tested them as well.  

It is also possible to have negative antibody tests with a positive biopsy, or all 5 positive antibody tests and a negative biopsy.  
 

That all being said, if your son doesn't carry at least one copy of the celiac genes (HLA DQ2 or HLA DQ8) then the chances of him having celiac are next to nothing.  The intestinal damage may be the result of another digestive disorder.  I hope he feels better!