Abstract
The clinical spectrum for celiac disease (CD) is broad and includes cases with either typical (intestinal) or atypical (extraintestinal) features, often making the diagnosis of CD very difficult.We describe the case of a girl presenting with stunted growth and malnourishment. She was evaluated at 14 months for decreased growth rate without any signs of gastrointestinal, renal or endocrine disorders. She was evaluated for CD, but resulted negative for anti-tTG antibodies.At the age of 4.1 years, she exhibited basal dental enamel hypoplasia, iron deficiency anaemia despite repeated iron supplementation, with persistent reduced height (-2.79 SDS), BMI (-0.76 SDS), growth velocity (-1.79 SDS) and delayed bone age (1.5 year). The CD screening was repeated and very high anti-tTG-IgA (128 IU/ml, normal values < 7 IU/ml) and anti-tTG-IgG (77 IU/ml, normal values < 7 IU/ml) values were found. HLA genotyping revealed an HLA DQ2 haplotype. A duodenal biopsy revealed severe villous atrophy with crypt hyperplasia and increased intraepithelial lymphocytes (> 40 IELs/100 epithelial cells) confirming the diagnosis of CD. A gluten-free diet was started and after only four months, her growth velocity increased from 4.83 cm/year (-1.79 SDS) to 6.53 cm/year (-0.15 SDS).In conclusion, we report the development of a positive serology for CD in an asymptomatic child with growth retardation, who previously was investigated for CD and resulted negative. Therefore, when faced with retarded growth in young patients, after excluding other malabsorption conditions and even when CD serological markers are negative, the paediatric endocrinologist should request HLA genotyping, before the intestinal biopsy, in order to check for the presence of risk alleles.
Highlights
Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated disease which is triggered by the ingestion of gliadin and other prolamines which are toxic in genetically susceptible subjects
We describe an asymptomatic child with stunted growth and negative serology, in whom CD was not diagnosed at the first evaluation, but later during the follow-up when she became seropositive for CD
human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotyping in first-degree relatives revealed DQA1*05:01, 05:05 and DQB1*02:01, 03:01 in her older gluten-free diet brother, who had a negative serology for CD
Summary
Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated disease which is triggered by the ingestion of gliadin and other prolamines which are toxic in genetically susceptible subjects. HLA genotyping is an important as exam for first degree relatives or as a supporting test when biopsy is excluded due to its invasive nature in symptomatic subjects with high antibody levels [3]. We describe an asymptomatic child with stunted growth and negative serology, in whom CD was not diagnosed at the first evaluation, but later during the follow-up when she became seropositive for CD.
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