Hla Dq2+ And Hla Dq8-

[MissAmie]

Hello,

My grandma has Celiac diagnosed about 20 years ago (she always had severe exema and now has advanced ostio.). Her mother was in the same boat, never ate and had very low weight her entire life (I am sure she had it and was never diagnosed). I am being tested tomorrow due to weired nerological issues...slight GI issues.

My three kids have been tested. All three have had exema, the boys have had bad DH and one with GI issues and is a little hyper/spun at times. They have all tested positve for the gene. All three are HLA DQ2+ and HLA DQ8- but supposedly "don't have it. They had the tests done when they were 5, 4 and 3 years old. I think they have it...Doctor says maybe.

Any advise?

Thier IgG, IgA and IgA ELISA (TTG IgA) levels are higher for the older kid and decrease with each kid. IgA IFA (EMA IgA) test was negative for all three kids. What do these tests mean? Doctor didn't explain these well.

Thanks!

[Ursa Major]

First of all, those blood tests are notoriously unreliable with little kids. Were the boys officially diagnosed with DH? Because if they were, then they automatically have a firm diagnosis of celiac disease. ONLY people with celiac disease get DH, it is the only thing that causes it. And the only valid treatment is a gluten-free diet.

With all of them having not just one, but both celiac disease genes, you can bet they all have celiac disease if they have symptoms, even if their blood tests came back negative.

[nora-n]

Yes, DH=celiac, and here in europe, many places they do not do the antigliadin and endomysila antibody tests any more, just the Ttg test which is very specific for celiac.

Your kids'blood test point definitely towards celiac.

The negative endomysila antibody tests most likely mean the villi are not totally gone, as it is only supposed to show uppositive when all the villi are gone. (but it varies, of course, when these tests turn positive in the course of the disease. Different people will show different test results with the same degree of villi damage. In general, cutoff levels are set to only show up positive when they assume there is severe villi damage)

nora

[MissAmie]

Are the DQ2 and the DQ8 both genes? They only tested positve for the DQ2 but they were all 5 and under when they were tested. I plan on having them tested each year.[

quote name='Ursa Major' date='Dec 7 2007, 11:35 AM' post='371636']

First of all, those blood tests are notoriously unreliable with little kids. Were the boys officially diagnosed with DH? Because if they were, then they automatically have a firm diagnosis of celiac disease. ONLY people with celiac disease get DH, it is the only thing that causes it. And the only valid treatment is a gluten-free diet.

With all of them having not just one, but both celiac disease genes, you can bet they all have celiac disease if they have symptoms, even if their blood tests came back negative.