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Celiac disease: Development of immunological assays
Abstract
Serum gluten antibody levels of the IgG and IgA classes and subclasses were determined by Indirect Immunofluorescence Assay (IFA) in seventeen adult celiac patients who were following a self-regulated gluten-free diet, and ten healthy adult controls. The green fluorescence intensities from the IFA images were analyzed using computer digitization and compared with controls. Using frozen sections of wheat seeds as the antigen, the mean green fluorescence values for IgG class, IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses were significantly (p $<$ 0.05) higher for celiac patients compared with healthy controls. The celiac patients also showed significantly (p $<$ 0.05) higher mean green fluorescence values for both IgA class and IgA1 subclass compared to healthy controls when wheat was used as the antigen. Using rye seeds as the antigen, significantly (p $<$ 0.05) higher mean values for celiac patients were only observed for IgG and IgA classes. Comparison of wheat and rye as antigens showed that there were significant (p $<$ 0.05) differences on IFA results between the two different antigens. The analysis of antibody profiles against soybean showed that mean green fluorescence values for IgG or IgA classes were not significantly higher for celiac patients as compared to healthy controls. The two wheat varieties "rawhide" and "scout 66" used in the present study showed that two varieties had no significant different effects on IFA results. Collectively, these results suggest that celiac patients who were on a self-regulated gluten-free diet had elevated antibody profiles to gluten compared to healthy adult individuals. The questionnaire which was filled by same adult celiac patients who participated in the study revealed that all celiac patients were aware of toxic grains such as wheat, rye, barley and oats, except the suspected toxic grain amaranth, but all were not aware of gluten when it is hidden in a food.
Subject Area
Nutrition|Immunology
Recommended Citation
Fernando, Perpetua Delrine, "Celiac disease: Development of immunological assays" (1995). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9600732.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9600732