Frequency of auto‐antibodies of type 1 diabetes in adult patients with celiac disease

Both celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) are autoimmune diseases resulting from a complex interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. AIM: In this retrospective study, we determined the frequency of auto‐antibodies of T1D in adult patients with active CD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty adult patients with active CD were included in our study. Ninety healthy blood donors (HBD) served as control group. Anti‐glutamic acid decarboxylase IgG antibodies (GAD‐Ab), anti‐tyrosine phosphatase IgG antibodies (IA2‐Ab), and anti‐zinc transporter IgG antibodies (Zn‐T8‐Ab) were determined by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for patients and control group. For statistical analysis, we used Chi‐square or Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Out of 80 patients, 10 (12.50%) had auto‐antibodies of T1D vs. only one in control group (1.11%) (p = 0.003). Simultaneous presence of GAD‐Ab, IA2‐Ab, and Zn‐T8‐Ab was found in one patient (1.25%). Nine patients had only GAD‐Ab. IA2‐Ab and Zn‐T8‐Ab were absent in all HBD. The frequency of GAD‐Ab was significantly higher in CD patients than in HBD (12.5% vs 1.11%, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The present study has shown that CD is associated with a high frequency of auto‐antibodies of T1D. Screening for T1D in this population, at risk for other autoimmune diseases, may be useful.