[Positive tests for serum anti-endomysium antibodies (AEA) and anti-jejunal antibodies (JAB) and histopathological diagnosis of celiac disease in children].

Abstract

Non-invasive examination methods are increasingly important in diagnosing celiac disease. New options for diagnosing celiac disease have been discovered in addition to the established biochemical, hematological and other methods as a result expansive progress ofclinical genetics and immunology. At the same time, detection of circulating auto-antibodies is becoming ever more frequent in clinical practice. As a result, many new, clinically highly heterogeneous cases of the disease have been diagnosed and consequently the prevalence of the disease in both child and adult population has grown. Detection of anti-endomysial antibodies (AEA), characteristic for their high sensitivity and specificity, plays an important role in diagnosing and monitoring celiac disease in pediatric practice. Nevertheless, histopathological diagnosis remains the critical tool for definitive diagnosis of the disease. The article refers to relations between the degree of positivity of AEA and JAB antibodies in the IgA class and the respective grade in the Marsh grading system. The objective of the study was to examine AEA and JAB antibodies and the histological picture of the duodenal mucosa in 20 children and adolescents with celiac disease aged from 2 to 18 years. The authors developed a semiquantitative scale of positivity of both the antibodies, which they compared trying to find a correlation between these and the histopathological picture of the duodenal mucosa. The authors point out the need of timely determination of AEA and t-TG (tissue transglutaminase) in patients whose anamnesis, clinical picture or laboratory results may be indicative of celiac disease.