antigens in coeliac disease . Intestinal absorption of food

It is well known that antigenically-intact food proteins are absorbed across the healthy gastrointestinal mucosa;1 the amounts absorbed are insignificant nutritionally but they are sufficient to immunise, and antibodies to cows' milk proteins may be found in most normal children.2 Increased absorption of food proteins has been demonstrated in infants recovering from diarrhoeas and it has been suggested that this is owing to mucosal damage. In coeliac disease, where profound mucosal damage occurs, it has been proposed that there may be a generalised increase in the absorption of antigens from the intestinal lumen and that an immunological response to these antigens contributes to the lesion ofthe small intestine.4 In common with several other gastrointestinal diseases, coeliac disease is associated with increased antibody responses to dietary proteins5-7 but there is no evidence that these antibodies are directly responsible for the intestinal disease. To test the hypothesis that absorption of dietary antigens is increased in active coeliac disease we have measured the serum concentrations of 3-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin, and antigen-antibody complexes (AAC) after administration of milk and egg to children with active coeliac disease, to children with coeliac disease in remission, and to control children.

[1]  Carmagnola Al.  [The mast cell]. , 1988, Giornale italiano di dermatologia e venereologia : organo ufficiale, Societa italiana di dermatologia e sifilografia.

[2]  R. Levinsky,et al.  Milk antigen absorption in the preterm and term neonate. , 1982, Archives of disease in childhood.

[3]  R. Pounder,et al.  ABNORMAL INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY TO SUGARS IN VILLOUS ATROPHY , 1979, The Lancet.

[4]  J. Mowbray,et al.  Demonstration of two disease specific antigens in circulating immune complexes. , 1979, Clinical and Experimental Immunology.

[5]  A. Hofmann,et al.  Measurements of intestinal permeability using low molecular weight polyethylene glycols (PEG 400). II. Application to normal and abnormal permeability states in man and animals. , 1977, Gastroenterology.

[6]  E. Holborow,et al.  MULTIPLE IMMUNE COMPLEXES AND HYPOCOMPLEMENTÆMIA IN DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS AND CŒLIAC DISEASE , 1976, The Lancet.

[7]  E. Jarrett,et al.  Rat IgE production. II. Primary and booster reaginic antibody responses following intradermal or oral immunization. , 1976, Immunology.

[8]  W. Walker.  Antigen absorption from the small intestine and gastrointestinal disease. , 1975, Pediatric clinics of North America.

[9]  D. Brown,et al.  Evidence for complement-binding immune complexes in adult coeliac disease, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis. , 1973, Lancet.

[10]  J. Walker-Smith,et al.  Immunoglobulins and dietary protein antibodies in childhood coeliac disease 1 , 1970, Gut.

[11]  F. Rector,et al.  Water and solute movement in the small intestine of patients with sprue. , 1967, The Journal of clinical investigation.

[12]  J. Heremans,et al.  Immunochemical quantitation of antigens by single radial immunodiffusion. , 1965, Immunochemistry.

[13]  D. Liebowitz,et al.  SIGNIFICANCE OF ANTIBODIES TO DIETARY PROTEINS IN THE SERUMS OF PATIENTS WITH NONTROPICAL SPRUE. , 1964, The New England journal of medicine.

[14]  R. Good,et al.  Antibodies to cow's milk proteins. Their presence and significance. , 1963, Pediatrics.

[15]  K. Taylor,et al.  An Immunological Study of Coeliac Disease and Idiopathic Steatorrhoea , 1961, British medical journal.

[16]  R. Cooke,et al.  The gastrointestinal absorption of unaltered protein in normal infants and in infants recovering from diarrhea. , 1955, Pediatrics.

[17]  M. Walzer,et al.  ABSORPTION OF UNDIGESTED PROTEINS IN HUMAN BEINGS: IV. ABSORPTION OF UNALTERED EGG PROTEIN IN INFANTS AND IN CHILDREN , 1935 .

[18]  R. Levinsky,et al.  Solid phase radioimmunoassay for detection of circulating food protein antigens in human serum. , 1980, Journal of immunological methods.