Characterisation of tissue transglutaminase-reactive T cells from patients with coeliac disease and healthy controls.

Previous studies have shown evidence for T lymphocytes specific for tissue transglutaminase (tTG) in the periphery of coeliac disease (CD) patients. These cells could play a role in disease pathogenesis and may be involved in providing help for the production of anti-tTG autoantibodies. The objective of this study was to further investigate the presence of tTG-specific T cells in patients with treated and untreated CD, and normal controls.

The absence of a mucosal lesion on standard histological examination does not exclude diagnosis of celiac disease.

Some patients with undiagnosed celiac disease have minor mucosal lesions that may not be apparent during routine histological analysis. Twenty-five such patients of our institution were discharged to their primary-care physicians despite having positive endomysial antibody serology. To re-evaluate diagnosis for these patients, immunohistological staining with antibodies to CD2, CD3, CD7, CD8, CD69, and Ki67 was conducted on original biopsies from twenty patients.

Increased protein expression of matrix metalloproteinases -1, -3, and -9 and TIMP-1 in patients with gluten-sensitive enteropathy.

Gluten-sensitive enteropathy is characterized by small intestinal damage. The pathogenic mechanisms involved are not precisely understood. There is recent interest in the possibility that matrix metalloproteinases might play a pathogenic role.