Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Falsely elevated anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies in patients with immunoproliferative small intestinal diseases: A case series

  • Short Report
  • Published:
Indian Journal of Gastroenterology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Immunoproliferative small intestinal disease (IPSID) is an uncommon disease of the small intestine. There is a similarity in the clinical presentations of enteropathic diseases, including celiac disease, tropical sprue, IPSID, and Whipple’s disease. A differentiation between them is based on the use of a highly specific serological test for celiac disease and specific histological characteristics. We found that IgA-anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (IgA-tTG Ab) is falsely elevated in a subset of patients with IPSID. The levels of IgA-tTG Ab fall with the treatment of IPSID. The healthcare professional should be aware of the conditions that lead to a false-positive anti-tTG Ab. Intestinal mucosal biopsies even in the presence of anti-tTG Ab should be done in endemic regions as they provide an opportunity for making a diagnosis of alternative and uncommon diseases before the diagnosis of celiac disease. 

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Elli L, Branchi F, Sidhu R, et al. Small bowel villous atrophy: Celiac disease and beyond. Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;11:125–38.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ferrara F, Quaglia S, Caputo I, et al. Anti-transglutaminase antibodies in non-coeliac children suffering from infectious diseases. Clin Exp Immunol. 2010;159:217–23.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Villalta D, Crovatto M, Stella S, et al. False positive reactions for IgA and IgG anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies in liver cirrhosis are common and method-dependent. Clin Chim Acta Int J Clin Chem. 2005;356:102–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bizzaro N, Villalta D, Tonutti E, et al. IgA and IgG tissue transglutaminase antibody prevalence and clinical significance in connective tissue diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, and primary biliary cirrhosis. Dig Dis Sci. 2003;48:2360–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Al-Saleem T, Al-Mondhiry H. Immunoproliferative small intestinal disease (IPSID): A model for mature B-cell neoplasms. Blood. 2005;105:2274–80.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Galian A, Lecestre MJ, Scotto J, Bognel C, Matuchansky C, Rambaud JC. Pathological study of alpha-chain disease, with special emphasis on evolution. Cancer. 1977;39:2081–101.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Franceschini E, Lionetti ME, D’Adamo G, et al. Misuse of serological screening tests for celiac disease in children: a prospective study in Italy. Dig Liver Dis Off J Ital Soc Gastroenterol Ital Assoc Study Liver. 2019;51:1547–50.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Singh P, Singh A, Silvester JA, et al. Inter- and intra-assay variation in the diagnostic performance of assays for anti-tissue transglutaminase in 2 populations. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;18(11):2628–30.

  9. Watanabe C, Komoto S, Hokari R, et al. Prevalence of serum celiac antibody in patients with IBD in Japan. J Gastroenterol. 2014;49:825–34.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Rubio-Tapia A, Hill ID, Kelly CP, et al. ACG clinical guidelines: diagnosis and management of celiac disease. Off J Am Coll Gastroenterol ACG. 2013;108:656.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Dhawan A, Agarwal A, Mulder CJ, et al. Celiac disease in the East and the West: bridging the gaps between the guidelines and their implementation in daily practice is mandatory. Indian J Gastroenterol Off J Indian Soc Gastroenterol. 2019;38:185–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Conception and design of the study: Govind Makharia, Vineet Ahuja, Prasenjit Das, and Soumita Bagchi; generation, collection, assembly, and analysis and/or interpretation of data: Srikant Mohta, Ashish Agarwal, Vikas Banyal, Alka Singh, Prasenjit Das, and Soumita Bagchi; drafting or revision of the manuscript: Srikant Mohta, Ashish Agarwal, Vikas Banyal, and Alka Singh; critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: Govind Makharia, Vineet Ahuja, Prasenjit Das, and Soumita Bagchi; approval of the final version of the manuscript: all authors approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Govind Makharia.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

 SM, AA. VB, AS, SB, PD, VA and GM declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

The study was performed conforming to the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008 concerning human and animal rights, and the authors followed the policy concerning informed consent as shown on Springer.com.

Ethics approval

The study protocol was approved by the institute ethics committee.

Patient consent

Patient consent was waived off by the ethics committee and only anonymized data are being reported.

Permission to reproduce material from other sources

Not required.

Guarantor of article

Dr. Govind Makharia.

Financial support

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Writing assistance

None.

Disclaimer

The authors are solely responsible for the data and the contents of the paper. In no way is the Honorary Editor- in- Chief, Editorial Board Members, the Indian Society of Gastroenterology or printer/publishers responsible for the results/findings and content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mohta, S., Agarwal, A., Banyal, V. et al. Falsely elevated anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies in patients with immunoproliferative small intestinal diseases: A case series. Indian J Gastroenterol 42, 713–717 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12664-023-01365-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12664-023-01365-5

Keywords

Navigation