Genetic test cannot confirm celiac disease; dairy

[Guest guest]

Hi Debbie,

The genetic test is able to virtually rule out the possibility

of having CD, but it cannot confirm it. The HLA alleles they test for are present

in 30- 40% of the population, yet only about 1% of the population gets celiac

disease. There is no other genetic test that can confirm celiac disease because

the other genes responsible are not yet known. Celiac is multifactorial, like

all autoimmune diseases, meaning it is caused by a combination of many genes

and environmental influences. It can be useful to know whether the particular

HLA alleles associated with celiac are not present in each family member, because

that can save you the hassle of regular blood tests on those family members if

they come up negative. We had a good experience with Kimball labs for celiac

HLA testing.

And yes, the presence of one autoimmune disease does increase

the risk of getting others, but it is not definitively known if the

re-introduction of gluten will trigger this. However, once a diet is truly GF,

re-introducing gluten is very hard to do because of the symptoms and the length

of time it would have to be eaten, and I would say that most people balk at doing

this. If her DH has subsided, that’s pretty strong evidence that gluten was the

culprit, if all else remained the same (and I’d say the same for the bloating,

pain, etc.). BTW, sometimes DH also requires additional treatment (medication) besides

diet. You can never say for sure that it was CD that caused these things

without biopsies/endoscopies, however, you need to ask yourself whether it’s

really important to know for sure.

Hope that helps!

PS – When the villi are blunted, the ability to digest dairy is

also affected. So until the damage is fully repaired, it may be necessary to

eliminate dairy.

C. Darcy

Genetic

Counseling Intern

Stanford

University School of Medicine, MS GC, 2010

300 Pasteur Drive A097, Stanford, CA 94305-5208

ddarcy@...

ddarcy@...

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Debbie Dietz

Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 1:26 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] endoscopy and dairy

Hi,

I'm new to this too, and no where near as knowledgeable as

others, but I thought I'd respond since I didn't see one yet.

My daughter has DH and has been gf for almost four

months. We saw an allergist yesterday, who mentioned doing a gluten

challenge so we could definitively diagnose. (The pediatric

dermatologist at Lucile Packard said it was DH but didn't do a skin

biopsy.) We told him that we had been told be another doctor that a

gluten challenge could actually trigger other autoimmune issues and we

weren't willing to do it. He was totally ok with this. He did

recommend a genetic test. If anyone has info about that, I'd love to

hear back.

I don't know about the dairy question.

Debbie

--- On Wed, 5/5/10, Angelika Kasten <akasten1@...>

wrote:

From: Angelika Kasten <akasten1@...>

Subject: [ ] endoscopy and dairy

, " Angelika Kasten " <akasten1@...>

Date: Wednesday, May 5, 2010, 8:13 AM

Could anyone help me with the following questions? My

bloodtest showed

Gliadin AB IGG as 125 (high). Since February 15 I have consequently

been gluten free and feel significantly better (no stomach cramps, no

bloating, more energy). Now my doctor wants me to do an endoscopy to

make sure that I have celiac disease. But I would have to eat gluten

again for any symptoms to show up. How important is the endoscopy?

Would it just show that I have celiac or also to what degree?

Also, how important is it to be dairy free?

Thanks so much for your help.

Angelika