Radioimmunological detection of anti-transglutaminase autoantibodies in human saliva: a useful test to monitor celiac disease follow-up.

Department of Paediatrics, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.

Background Serum radioimmunoassay(RIA) tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies(tTG-Abs) proved to be a sensitive test also during celiac disease(CD) follow-up. We demonstrated that RIA tTG-Abs could be detected in human saliva. Aim To evaluate salivary RIA tTG-Abs in celiac children on gluten-free diet(GFD). Methods Saliva and serum samples from 109 celiac children were evaluated at diagnosis(Group1: 71 females, median age 9.4 years) and 58 of them on GFD: 36 after 3-6 months(Group2a), 34 at 9 months or more(Group2b). Two sex and age matched control groups: 89 gastroenterological patients(Group3) and 49 healthy subjects(Group4) participated in the study. Saliva and serum tTG-Abs were detected by RIA and compared to serum tTG-Abs ELISA and IgA anti-endomysium(EMA). Results Salivary RIA tTG-Abs were found in 94.5%, 66.7% and 50.0% of Group1, 2a and 2b CD patients and in 98.2%, 72.2% and 50.0% of corresponding serum samples, respectively. tTG-Abs decreased with GFD progression and a correlation was found between saliva and serum titers(r=0.75, p=0.0001). During the CD follow-up, salivary and serum RIA sensitivities were comparable, and higher with respect to EMA and ELISA. Conclusions This study demonstrates that it is possible to detect salivary tTG-Abs with high sensitivity not only at CD diagnosis, but also during GFD.

PMID: 18429945 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]