Hla-dq Results Interpretation

[clr18287]

Hi All,

I have been gluten free for about a month now.. despite an entirely negative blood panel.. to see if my symptoms would improve.

I've recently had some HLA testing done for DQ association and my understading is that despite negative celiac panels, these tests can determine susceptibility. Can someone please interpret my results?

HLA-DQA1

Allele 1 - 0103

Allele 2 - 0301

HLA-DQB1

Allele 1 - 0302

Allele 2 - 0601

DQ positive for celiac? Thanks very much

[Mother of Jibril]

Yes... the B1*0302 gene is DQ8, one of the main genes for celiac disease. You're also have pretty rare type of DQ6, which is a gluten sensitive gene. Wikipedia has a useful chart:

Open Original Shared Link

There could be several reasons for your negative blood panel...

1. You don't have celiac disease. Having the gene doesn't mean you automatically have it... although you could have another gluten-related disorder (what kind of symptoms prompted you to test for celiac?)

2. You weren't eating enough gluten for it to show up

3. You have a low total IgA (did they test for that?)

4. Your results were borderline and they told you it was negative (did you get the actual numbers?)

By the way... DQ8 also gives you a predisposition for type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. You might want to google HLA-DQ6 and see what turns up.

[Mother of Jibril]

ps - Welcome to the group!

Also... can I ask which lab did your genetic test? It's interesting to know the alpha genes.

[clr18287]

Thanks very much for the quick reply and the welcome.

I am 23 years old male with MS and a severe case of ocular inflammatory disease (uveitis, pars planitis, optic neuritis) On top of that I have horrible GI issues. Since I've been off of gluten, dairy, soy, tomatoes, chocolate, and eggs.. (pretty impossible) my eyes have made a slight comeback in terms of reduced inflammation. I'll post the numbers for you below. I had the full gamut. I would really like to know whether or not I can have gluten.. these dietary restrictions are so hard.

Labcorp performed the HLA testing as well.

Celiac Disease Comprehensive (LabCorp)

Deamidated Gliadin Abs, IgA - 0.8 U/ml (0.0. - 10.0)

Deamidated Gliadin Abs , IgG - 3.6 U/ml (0.0. - 10.0)

t-Transglutiminase (tTG) IgA - 0 U/ml (0-3) - Negative / (4-10) Weak Positive / (>10) Positive

t-Transglutiminase (tTG) IgG - 1 U/ml (0-5) - Negative / (6-9) - Weak Positive / (>9) Positive

Endomysial Antibody IgA - Negative

Immunoglobulin A, Qn, Serum - 114 mg/dL (70-400)

All negative!! Am I free despite having the HLA-DQ8 Gene? I was definitely consuming gluten at the time of the test.

Thanks so much!

[clr18287]

I also wanted to add that I have been tested for HLA-DR and HLA-B as well..

I have:

HLA-B*08xx

HLA-B*52xx

HLA-B*4

HLA-B*6

HLA-DRB1*0401

HLA-DRB1*15BNK (DRB1*1502, DRB1*1519)

Great genetics!

[ShayFL]

My NEGATIVE labs were with LabCorp as well. But I had a POSITIVE response to the diet.

You wont know if you are "free" unless you try the diet to see if your symptoms improve.

[Mother of Jibril]

Wow!

OK... so here's a link to the HLA-DR page on Wikipedia:

Open Original Shared Link

I've read a little bit about DR4... it's linked to both DQ7 and DQ8 (lucky me... I have both of those) and it puts you at risk for lupus, RA, type I diabetes, and MS... so that explains a lot

Some thoughts about your eating habits...

1. How did you decide to take gluten, dairy, soy, tomatoes, chocolate, and eggs out of your diet? You should definitely stay off gluten... dairy seems smart too. It IS hard if you have to follow a really restrictive diet... some people don't have a choice.

2. How do you feel on this new diet? You said your eyes have improved a little. What about your GI issues?

3. People on this forum are GREAT about helping you find ways to eat healthy and delicious gluten-free food. That can make the diet seem a whole lot more manageable.

4. What is the rest of your diet like? Are you taking any supplements? Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are common with gluten intolerance and they can do horrible things to your body.

[clr18287]

I took all of my favorite foods and nixxed them. Coincidentally they happened to be the most common allergens! I was addicted to dairy (whey protein powder, cottage cheese, cheese) wheat (breads, pastas, OATMEAL), I would eat tomatoes all day long like apples. Serious addictions and cravings for these days. I figured that can't be good.

Still have insanely slow gastric emptying... takes 3 days to clear a meal. I still have really dark circles under my eyes. Low T3 and extremely high Reverse T3 among other endocrine imbalances (Low testosterone, LH and FSH)

I don't take any vitamins currently.. but I was for a time. No improvements. I actually had quite an arsenal. Sadly I found that a lot of them contained gluten and soy. Even my fish oil had soy!! Carlson, the best. They claim that they remove all of the soy to get the Vitamin E but I dont know..

Overall I am pretty damn tired of eating the same things but I am sure it's helpiing. A lot of my doctors say that I have invisible MS.. despite brain lesions and systemic inflammatory problems I have no other symptoms. Maybe the gluten has been doing this the entire time? That'd be nuts.

[Mother of Jibril]

I do think there's some truth to the idea that cravings indicate your intolerances.. I would LOVE a nice toasted cheese sandwich if I knew it wouldn't make me sick That's the one thing I really miss. BUT... tomatoes and chocolate also have lots of antioxidants. What if that's why you were craving them? Personally, I would try putting one food at a time back into your diet to see what kind of effect it has. "Challenge" for a few days with a good quantity of that food. Don't do this with gluten and dairy... just the other things. Of course, it's totally up to you. I don't know how bad you're feeling

I can understand your frustration with supplements, but having low iron, B-12, calcium, vitamin D, etc... can be really dangerous. A multivitamin plus a few strategic supplements could help a lot. For example, each day I eat two raw, organic brazil nuts for selenium... it helps support the conversion of thyroid hormones from T4 to T3. I've also been taking vitamin D... wow. I feel so much more happy and mentally stable. If you can't find a good fish oil or flax oil, you could eat foods with a lot of omega 3s... wild salmon, walnuts, flax seeds, etc...

Also... have you ever tried Betaine HCl? Check out this list of symptoms associated with "hypochlorhydria" (low stomach acid) [from Open Original Shared Link]

Bloating, belching, burning,flatulence immediately after meals, indigestion, diarrhoea, constipation, itching around the anus, multiple food allergies, brittle finger nails, dilated blood vessels on cheeks and nose, acne, iron deficiency, parasites, candida albicans proliferation, nausea after taking nutritional supplements. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Conditions that have been linked with Hypochlorhydria include:Celiac disease, Addisons Disease, Asthma, Eczema, Diabetes Mellitus, Chronic Hives, Psoriasis, Rosacea, Osteoporosis [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Gluten could definitely be causing your symptoms of MS. Once your intestines are damaged, the undigested particles leak out into the rest of your body... even into your brain. Scary.

[nora-n]

were you by any chance on steroids fr the MS? That will give you negative celiac tests, and even just normal supplementation of steroids for addison can give negative celiac test results.

There was a discussion about that here in this folder not so long ago.

I also posted a link to an article on celiac.com about that, and that they abruptly stopped research on the connection between MS and celiac as soon as tey started using steroids for MS.....(it sounds like they had suspected a connection before)

Your numbers are not 0, they are a number, just like mine. I think that means something.

If you go read at all the LDN pages and forums and yahoo groups, (Low dose naltrexone), they advise to remove all gluten and milk from the diet, and to try LDN.

Another thing that can mimic MS plus celiac, is lyme but you probably already know that.

They say over at the LDN boards, that if you do not improve on LDN, you have lyme instead. About 15% of diagnosed MS patients really have lyme instead they say.

gluten is a neurotoxin also, and gliadin has been found in the ganglia. They have also found which tissue transglutaminase antibody is responsible for gluten ataxia, and it is ttg6.

gluten ataxia is also connected with DQ1 (DQ6 is a subgroup of DQ1)

Just google gluten or somethng on the topic and Hadjivassiliou. He found that about 20% of his glutn ataxia patients are DQ1.

I think the antigliadin that was not 0, means something.

Often there is no gut damage with gluten ataxia, or with the othe form of celiac, DH.

The ttg2 (the test you had) is more connected to gut damage.

A lot of people here would love to know their alpha chains. I do not even know the beta chains....they just told me I was negative.

nora

nora

[clr18287]

Wow, this is a great group.

I have been on prednisone eye drops (low systemic absorption) for the better part of 5 years now. I'm sure it's done something with all of my lab's results.. somehow. I also had an IV infusion for 3 days of 1000mg Methlyl-Pred. That's about when all of this started happening! My doctor denies the connection. From the hundreds of doctors I've seen in my short lifetime... the hell with them - they know nothing of reality, just numbers and ranges.

I take Betaine Hcl and DigestMore Ultra. I have low stomach acid and for some reason I cannot get it to normal despite being gluten-free and DF. The Betaine is clearly needed because my stomach does not hurt when I use two capsules (638mg). Maybe I need more?

My VItamin D level is 39.7. I took 2000IU a day for some time to get it up from 13.2 in February 07!

My B-12 fluctuates from 385 to 650 on a scale from 211-900.. I am sure it's low though - I don't eat red meat.

I too, eat 3 brazil nuts a day for selenium

I've been tested for Lyme a number of times - all negative. I hear that negative test results from serum are not really that reliable anyway. My father has lyme disease from tick bite a couple of years ago.

I am sure my MS is related to gluten... really really have a good hunch here.

Thanks for all of your help.