Anti-microbial antibodies in celiac disease: Trick or treat?

Table 1 Frequency of anti-microbial antibodies in 190 patients with celiac disease and in control groups n (%)

	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Control	GI control
n	82	33	75	100	48
TGA IgA (U/mL) (median; IQR)	54.3 (20.2-100.0)	32.2 (9.9-73.1)	2.7 (2.2-3.7)	–	–
gASCA IgG positive	32 (39.0)bfj	12 (36.3)dfl	10 (13.3)	14 (14)	2 (4.2)
AMCA IgG positive	29 (35.4)bfjn	3 (9.1)	1 (1.3)	0 (0)	0 (0)
ALCA IgG positive	7 (8.5)	0 (0)	0 (0)	6 (6)	1 (2.1)
ACCA IgA positive	31 (37.8)bfjn	4 (12.1)	3 (4.2)	6 (6)	1 (2.1)
Any glycan positive	54 (65.9)bfjp	15 (45.4)dfl	15 (20)	21 (21)	4 (8.4)
Anti-OMP IgA positive	22 (26.8)	11 (33.3)	23 (30.7)	20 (20)	11 (22.9)

TGA: Antibodies against transglutaminase; Group 1: Celiac patients at the time of diagnosis; Group 2: Celiac patients after starting a gluten-free diet but still with celiac antibody positivity; Group 3: Celiac patients on a long-term strict gluten-free diet; Control: Healthy control; GI control: Non-celiac gastrointestinal disease control. Cut-off levels used for the determination of positivity were according to the manufacturers’ guidelines: 50, 100, 60, 90 U/mL and 25 U/mL for gASCA IgG, AMCA IgG, ALCA IgG, ACCA IgA, and anti-OMP IgA, respectively.

^bP < 0.001,

^dP < 0.01, group 1 or Group 2 vs control;

^fP < 0.001, group 1 or Group 2 vs GI control;

^jP < 0.001,

^lP < 0.01, group 1 or Group 2 vs Group 3;

ⁿP < 0.001,

^pP < 0.03, group 1 vs Group 2. Using χ²-test with Yates correction.