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Elevated Gluten Antibodies Found in Children With Autism

Waverunner

Senior Member
Messages
1,079
Elevated antibodies to gluten in children with autism but no increased rate of celiac disease. We could speculate, that gluten could have a bad influence on the human body, but doesn't show itself as inflammation of the gut or at least no form of inflammation we test for.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130620132144.htm

June 20, 2013 Researchers have found elevated antibodies to gluten proteins of wheat in children with autism in comparison to those without autism. The results also indicated an association between the elevated antibodies and the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms in the affected children. They did not find any connection, however, between the elevated antibodies and celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder known to be triggered by gluten. The results were e-published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Gluten, a group of more than 70 proteins in wheat and related grains, consists of gliadins and glutenins. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that negatively affects communication and social interaction. Although the mechanisms that cause autism are poorly understood, there is mounting evidence that the immune system plays a role in a subset of patients. In addition, autistic children commonly have gastrointestinal symptoms. In recent years, diets that exclude gluten have become increasingly popular in the autism community. The effectiveness of such diets, however, has not been confirmed in controlled and blinded studies.
The study, headed by Armin Alaedini, PhD, assistant professor of medical sciences (in the Department of Medicine and the Institute of Human Nutrition) at Columbia University Medical Center, looked at blood samples and medical records of 140 children. Thirty-seven of the children were diagnosed with autism and the rest were unaffected siblings or healthy control subjects. To increase diagnostic accuracy, only patients identified as having autism according to two well-recognized diagnostic instruments, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised, were selected. The blood samples were tested for antibodies to tissue transglutaminase, a sensitive and specific marker of celiac disease, as well as antibodies to gliadin. The patients also were tested for genes encoding certain human leukocyte antigens, which are strongly associated with celiac disease.
"This is the first study to systematically look at serologic and genetic markers of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity in such well-characterized cohorts of autism patients and controls," said Peter H. R. Green, MD, director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center and one of the study authors. "But the findings need to be confirmed in larger cohorts."
The authors suggest that further research is needed to understand the relevance of the described antibodies in autism. "The IgG antibody response to gluten does not necessarily indicate sensitivity to gluten or any disease-causing role for the antibodies in the context of autism," said Dr. Alaedini. "But the higher levels of antibody to gluten and their association with gastrointestinal symptoms point to immunologic and/or intestinal permeability abnormalities in the affected children." Dr. Alaedini noted that a better understanding of the immune response to gluten may yield novel clues about autism or offer biomarkers to identify a subset of patients that would respond to certain treatment strategies.
 

natasa778

Senior Member
Messages
1,774
If confirmed this will be very significant in terms of clinical trails and individualised treatments ...

Also (not disease-specific):


Recent large-scale double-blinded studies have
confirmed the existence of non-celiac wheat sensitivity
as a new clinical entity. Patients with a history of
allergies and atopic diseases are more likely to suffer
from non-celiac food sensitivity (Massari et al., 2011;
Carroccio et al., 2012).

A joint clinical trial currently being undertaken by Massachusetts
General Hospital and Second University of Naples is focusing
on identifying a clinical diagnostic biomarker for
non-celiac gluten sensitivity. It should be noted that
Carrocio and colleagues (2013) found that the main
histological characteristic of non-celiac wheat
sensitivity was mucosal eosinophil infiltration. ...

http://issuu.com/treatingautism/docs/medical_comorbidities_in_autism_spectrum_disorders
 

Shell

Senior Member
Messages
477
Location
England
I think the reason so few people with gluten probs don't get a dx of celiac is because they never get a biopsy. The blood test is well known to be less than reliable.
My dd was tested neg for celiacs and yet when I ignored the test and made her gluten free she has never been readmitted to hospital since.
I know gluten wasn't the primary issue with her as she had plenty of serious admissions well before I weaned her, but gluten has definitely played a role in how sick she was.
Also in my work with children with austism - many of them had gut problems that were never diagnosed as anything.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Very interesting.

Who would have thought that gluten proteins were homologous to many neurotransmitter proteins and that the immune response to gluten might also interfere with normal neurotransmission :

Evidence for gliadin antibodies as causative agents in schizophrenia.


Antibodies to gliadin, a component of gluten, have frequently been reported in schizophrenia. Highly immunogenic B cell epitopes along its length are homologous to numerous proteins relevant to schizophrenia, including members of the DISC1 interactome, glutamate, dopamine and neuregulin signaling networks, and plasticity or myelination pathways. Antibodies to gliadin may cross react with these key proteins, as has already been observed with synapsin 1 and calreticulin. Gliadin may thus be a causative agent in schizophrenia, under certain genetic and immunological conditions, producing its effects via antibody mediated knockdown of multiple proteins relevant to the disease process. Because of such homology, an autoimmune response may be sustained by the human antigens that resemble gliadin itself, a scenario supported by many reports of immune activation both in the brain and in lymphocytes in schizophrenia. Gluten free diets and removal of such antibodies may be of therapeutic benefit in certain cases of schizophrenia.


http://www.polygenicpathways.co.uk/gliadinschiz.htm
 

Waverunner

Senior Member
Messages
1,079
Marco: Thanks for posting this. What makes me really angry is, that most doctors don't know anything about anything. Nobody seems to care about all the new findings that were made, so it's the patient who has to care for himself but in the end doesn't have many alternatives because treatment options are limited in most cases.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Marco: Thanks for posting this. What makes me really angry is, that most doctors don't know anything about anything. Nobody seems to care about all the new findings that were made, so it's the patient who has to care for himself but in the end doesn't have many alternatives because treatment options are limited in most cases.


What interested (or concerned) me most in that paper was that the results of gene expression studies may result from the activity of viral or plant based homologues rather than 'defects' in the the endogenous genes. Genes don't discriminate whether the DNA/protein is human, viral or plant based - after all mitochondria are an evolutionary blend of bacterial, plant and animal derived functions within one organelle.

Most doctors just want to write a script and get you out the door before the next patient arrives.