Hi Everyone,
As part of the routine diagnosis, my GI had me do a blood test for celiac. I know that this is imprecise, etc., so I take it with a grain (no pun intended!) of salt. With that said, here is all that my lab said:
Name: Liver/GI
Gliaden IgG Ab, Deaminated 34
Gliaden IgA Ab, Deaminated 5
They said this was in the "normal range."
Can anyone verify? I'm just having trouble interpreting these numbers.
Thank you!
M
Interpretation of Blood Test?
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Hi Mary,
Yes, the blood tests for someone with MC is almost always negative unless they happen to also have fully-developed celiac disease. The clearest marker there (IMO) would be the IgA result, and as I recall, anything under 10 is considered negative. I'm not sure what the threshold is for the IgG test. If it's an ELISA test (which I'm pretty sure it is), then the threshold for a positive result should be 10. IgG antibody levels are usually considered to be a result of a mature reaction. IOW, a result of 10 or above would indicate a long-term build up of antibodies against an antigen. IgA antibodies, on the other hand, are a reasonably prompt (from a few hours to a few days) indicator of a reaction. IgE antibodies are immediate (within seconds or minutes) indicators of a reaction.
Unless they also tested you to rule out selective IgA deficiency (the inability to produce normal amounts of immunoglobulin A), those tests might be false negatives. Approximately 1 in 300 people have selective IgA deficiency, so those tests (and the Enterolab tests) will show false negative results for them. We have a number of members who have that problem.
If they didn't also test you for anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies, they failed to check whether you might be having an autoimmune reaction to gluten (the anti-TTG antibody test should always be given as part of the screening serology for celiac disease, IMO).
You're most welcome,
Tex
Yes, the blood tests for someone with MC is almost always negative unless they happen to also have fully-developed celiac disease. The clearest marker there (IMO) would be the IgA result, and as I recall, anything under 10 is considered negative. I'm not sure what the threshold is for the IgG test. If it's an ELISA test (which I'm pretty sure it is), then the threshold for a positive result should be 10. IgG antibody levels are usually considered to be a result of a mature reaction. IOW, a result of 10 or above would indicate a long-term build up of antibodies against an antigen. IgA antibodies, on the other hand, are a reasonably prompt (from a few hours to a few days) indicator of a reaction. IgE antibodies are immediate (within seconds or minutes) indicators of a reaction.
Unless they also tested you to rule out selective IgA deficiency (the inability to produce normal amounts of immunoglobulin A), those tests might be false negatives. Approximately 1 in 300 people have selective IgA deficiency, so those tests (and the Enterolab tests) will show false negative results for them. We have a number of members who have that problem.
If they didn't also test you for anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies, they failed to check whether you might be having an autoimmune reaction to gluten (the anti-TTG antibody test should always be given as part of the screening serology for celiac disease, IMO).
You're most welcome,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.