Background:Primate tissues seem are important for the specificity of IgA type anti-endomysium (EmA), anti-reticulin (ARA) and anti-jejunum (JeA) antibody investigations in gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE). Substrate availability and costs for multiple testing are, however, frequent problems.
Material/Methods: Sera of 300 non IgA-deficient GSE patients and 127 controls were tested on frozen sections made from appendices surgically removed because of the suspicion of acute appendicitis, but having normal histology. An indirect immunofluorescent method with IgA-staining was used. Conventional assays for EmA, ARA and JeA were carried out on monkey esophagus, human liver/kidney and jejunum respectively. Eighty sera were investigated also on human umbilical cord tissue.
Results: A positive reaction on the appendix (App+) is composed of the staining of the endomysium, reticulin network and tunica propria fibers, each corresponding to the standard EmA, ARA and JeA pattern. 295/300 (98.3%) of the GSE patients and 0/127 of the controls were App+, without significant differences versus standard autoantibody reactions. Human umbilical cord positivity was observed in 50/54 GSE (92.6%) and in 2/26 (7.6%) controls

Keywords: enti-endomysium antibody, anti-jejunum antibody, anti-reticulin antibody, coeliac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, gluten-sensitive enteropathy, human umbilical cord, human appendix