Endomysial antibodies predict celiac disease irrespective of the titers or clinical presentation

Table 5 Baseline and follow-up data on subjects with positive endomysial antibodies but normal small-bowel mucosal villous structure

	Low1 EmA and TG2-ab, n = 40	High EmA or TG2-ab, n = 17
Baseline
Age, median (range), yr	39 (5-68)	39 (6-70)
Females, n (%)	30 (75)	11 (65)
Age below 18 yr	7 (18)	7 (41)
Gastrointestinal symptoms	28 (70)	12 (71)
Extraintestinal symptoms	2 (5)	4 (23)
Screen-detected subjects	10 (25)	1 (6)
EmA, median (range), titer	1:50 (1:5-1:200)	1:500 (1:5-1:2000)
TG2-ab, median (range), U/L	6.3 (0-24.8)	45.5 (13.9-> 100)
HLA DQ2 or DQ8, n (%)	33/33 (100)	16/16 (100)
Marsh 0	9 (23)	3 (18)
MarshI-II	31 (77)	14 (82)
Follow-up
Celiac disease diagnosis	29 (73)	16 (94)
Villous atrophy later2	12 (30)	8 (47)
Positive response to GFD	17 (43)	8 (47)
Gluten, no villous atrophy	2 (5)	0
Lost to follow-up	9 (22)	1 (6)

¹EmA titer 1: < 500, TG2-ab value < 30.0 U/L;

²Up to 10 yr of follow-up. EmA: Endomysial; TG2-ab: Transglutaminase 2 antibody; HLA: Human leukocyte antigen; GFD: Gluten-free diet.