Tissue Transglutaminase autoantibodies in cord-blood from children of healthy mothers

• Background/aims: Detemlination of tissue. transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTGAA) is a sensitive and specific diagnostic tool for large-scale screening for coeliac disease. Early diagnosis and treatment of coeliac disease eliminate gastrointestinal symptoms ru1d reduce the risk of secondmy complications. The purpose of this study was to correlate maternal and infant background factors and their association with tTGAA levels in cord-blood of the ABIS child cohort (ABIS= All Babies In Southeast Sweden).Methods: 2518 cord-blood samples were screened using immunoprecipitation for autoantibodies against tissue transglutaminase, GAD 65 (Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase) and IA-2 (Tyrosin phosphatase). Data on background factors were obtained from the mothers (questionnaire). Multiple comparisons in our analyses were handled by means of a modified Bonferroni adjustment; thus, P values ≤ 0.0019 (0.05/26) were considered to indicate statistical significance.Results: 10/2518 (0.40%) were positive for tTGAA (>0.040 Arbitrary Units (AU)). No cord-blood specimen from known coeliac mothers were positive for tTGAA. Neither absolute tTGAA nor positive tTGAA levels (>0.040AU) correlated with the independent variables in our model Seasonal variation in tTGAA levels (P=0.018) did not reach significance when adjusting for multiple comparisons.Conclusions: TTGAA levels do not seem to be influenced by the environmental or physical factors in our study, but the issue of seasonal variations in tTGAA levels should be further explored.

Nyckelord

Antibodies

coeliac

foetus

screening

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

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vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)