Abstract
We report on a 15‐y‐old adolescent boy affected by silent coeliac disease, abnormalities in glycoregulation and with autoantibodies specific to diabetes mellitus type I (ICA: islet cell antibodies) and GAD 65 (autoantibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase), in whom normalization of glycoregulation and disappearance of the immunological markers of pre‐diabetes were observed after 6 mo on a gluten‐free diet. The patient was followed‐up for 36 mo and showed a normal insulin response to an intravenous glucose tolerance test and no markers of autoimmunity. It is possible that undiagnosed coeliac disease over a long period could lead to a direct autoimmune mechanism against pancreatic β cells. Conclusion: Our findings seem to confirm the theory that undiagnosed coeliac disease can induce an autoimmune process against the pancreatic β cells and that, following a gluten‐free diet, the immunological markers for diabetes mellitus type 1 will disappear.
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