PREVALENCE OF COELIAC DIESASE IN FIRST DEGREE RELATIVES OF NON-COELIAC INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETES MELLITUS SUBJECTS.

Abstract

93 Autoimmune diseases are known to be clustred not only in the same individual, but also in different members of the same family. An increased prevalence of autoimmune disorders have been found in first degree relatives(FDR) of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Recent data support the hypothesis that autoimmune mechanisms might be operative in the pathogenesis of CD and this prompted as to screen for CD the FDR of IDDM subjects. Methods The study population comprised 252 IDDM patients, 562 FDR and 2000 healthy blood donors. The subject sera were screened for IgA-endomysium antibody (AEA) by IFA using the human umbilical cord vein(HUCV) tissue as antigenic substrate. Duodenal biopsy was performed in all subjects tested positive for AEA. The FDR sera were also screened for the related IDDM autoantibodies: antiglutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and anti-IA2. Results The results are summarized in thetable. 19(7.5%) of the IDDM patients have CD. 4 (9.5%) of the FDR of coeliac diabetics have CD. 11 (2%) of the FDR of AEA-negative diabetics have CD. 6 (0.3%) of the 2000 blood donors have CD. 2 (4.7%) of the FDR of coeliac diabetics had positive GAD antibodies. 19 (3.6%) of the FDR of AEA-negative dibetics had positive GAD antibodies and 10 (1.9%) of the FDR of the same group had IA2 positive antibodies.Conclusions Our data demonstrate an increased prevalence of CD in FDR of IDDM subjects with negative AEA test. The prevalence of AEA in the FDR of diabetics with negative AEA test are slightly lower of the related IDDM autoantibodies.