Abstract
The usefulness of celiac disease-related serology in monitoring patients on a gluten-free diet has been debated.
To describe serologic changes over time and assess whether serology tests can predict compliance with the gluten-free diet.
Sera obtained at baseline and every 3 months thereafter for 1 year in 82 adult celiac disease patients were assayed for: (1) IgA antigliadin, (2) IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase, (3) IgA endomysial, (4) IgA, and (5) IgG anti-deamidated gliadin peptides, (6) dual detection of IgA and IgG anti-deamidated gliadin peptides, (7) a single assay for IgA and IgG of both anti-deamidated gliadin peptide and anti-tissue transglutaminase, and (8) IgA antiactin antibodies.
At 3 months after diagnosis, most antibody assays significant decrease in mean concentrations (
p
<
0.0001) and the percentage of positive samples (
p
<
0.0001) with further improvement in subsequent determinations. Strictly adherents had significantly lower concentrations of antibodies (
p
<
0.01 to
p
<
0.00001) and smaller proportion of positive samples for IgA endomysial, IgA antiactin antibodies and IgA antigliadin (15.6%, 17.4% and 23.9%, respectively) than partially compliant. At 1 year, IgA endomysial (
p
<
0.02), IgA antiactin antibodies (
p
<
0.05) and anti-tissue transglutaminase (
p
<
0.02) predicted the degree of compliance.
Gluten-free diet treatment produced rapid and significant qualitative and quantitative changes in celiac disease-related antibodies which may be useful for monitoring dietary compliance.