Remission of Pituitary Autoimmunity Induced by Gluten-Free Diet in Patients With Celiac Disease

Context: An improvement of some autoimmune diseases associated with celiac disease (CD) has been observed after a gluten-free diet (GFD).

Objective: The aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the effect of a GFD on autoimmune pituitary impairment in patients with CD and potential/subclinical lymphocytic hypophysitis (LYH).

Design: Five-year longitudinal observational study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center for immunoendocrinology at the University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli".

Patients: Ninety-three newly diagnosed LYH patients (high titer of antipituitary antibodies [APA] and normal or subclinically impaired pituitary function) were enrolled from 2000 to 2013 and grouped as follows: group 1, consisting of 43 patients with LYH + CD, and group 2, consisting of 50 patients with isolated LYH only.

Intervention: A GFD was started in patients in group 1 after the diagnosis of CD.

Main outcome measures: APA titers and pituitary function were evaluated at the beginning of the study and then yearly for 5 years in both groups. Patients progressing to a clinically overt LYH were excluded from the follow-up.

Results: Complete remission of LYH (disappearance of APA and recovery of pituitary function in patients with previous subclinical hypopituitarism) occurred in 15 patients in group 1 after a GFD (34%) and spontaneously in only 1 patient in group 2 (2%) (P < .001). Two patients in group 1 and 25 in group 2 progressed to a clinically overt hypopituitarism and dropped out from the study to receive an appropriate replacement therapy. The presence of CD was the only independent predictor of pituitary function recovery (hazard ratio [HR] 0.059, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01-0.54, P = .012).

Conclusion: In patients with LYH and CD, a GFD may be able to induce remission of subclinical LYH, or prevent the progression to clinical stage of this disease.