New ELISA for Celiac Disease

An innovative anti-human transglutaminase (endomysium) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for serologic diagnosis of gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE, celiac disease) has been introduced.

Antibodies against transglutaminase occur with a prevalence of almost 100% in untreated GSE, whereas they are virtually never found in healthy individuals or patients with other intestinal diseases. The new ELISA is based on a human endomysium whole antigen, which is superior to transglutaminase from guinea pig liver and human recombinant enzyme as an ELISA antigen substrate. Whereas ELISA systems based on guinea pig transglutaminase show a correlation of only 73% with the "gold standard” indirect immunofluorescence test, this new ELISA demonstrates a correlation of 95% in various studies. Discrepancies only occurred with low-titer sera. In sera with moderate to high titers, the correlation was 100%.

The new ELISA is suitable for confirming a clinical diagnosis of symptomatic celiac disease, revealing latent celiac disease—which is more than three times as prevalent as the symptomatic form—and identifying a disposition to GSE in relatives of celiac disease patients. The assay was developed by Euroimmun GmbH (Luebeck, Germany).




Related Links:
Euroimmun