Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug 16;4(4):e340.
doi: 10.1097/PG9.0000000000000340. eCollection 2023 Nov.

Investigating the Relationship Between COVID-19 and Celiac Disease. A Dual Research Approach

Claudio Tiberti  1 , Margherita Bonamico  2 , Raffaella Nenna  3 , Laura Petrarca  3   4 , Chiara Maria Trovato  3   5 , Nicoletta Pietropaoli  3 , Valeria Fassino  1 , Fabio Midulla  3 , Andrea Lenzi  1 , Salvatore Oliva  3 , Monica Montuori  3
Affiliations

Investigating the Relationship Between COVID-19 and Celiac Disease. A Dual Research Approach

Claudio Tiberti et al. JPGN Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Most evidence on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has been obtained from web- or telephone-based surveys. In particular, few laboratory data, often incomplete, have been reported on the frequency of COVID-19-related serology at celiac disease (CD) diagnosis or on the effects of COVID-19 on the development of CD-specific autoimmunity.

Objectives: The objective of this retrospective cross-sectional case/control study was to: (1) evaluate the frequency of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in 78 children and adolescents at CD diagnosis (CD, 44 females, median age 7.4 years); (2) evaluate the frequency of IgA-anti-transglutaminase antibodies (IgA-tTGAbs) in 97 nonceliac patients (50 females, median age 9.0 years) who contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection during the pandemic (February-April 2021). As a control (CTRL) group, we analyzed 141 healthy subjects (79 females, median age 9.8 years) enrolled during the pandemic.

Methods: SARS-CoV-2 IgM- and IgG-antibodies were detected by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassays. IgA-tTGAbs were detected by a fluid-phase radioimmunoassay.

Results: Six out of 78 (7.7%) CD patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2Abs, with a frequency not significantly different from CTRL subjects (9.2%). None of the 97 nonceliac COVID-19 patients tested positive for IgA-tTG antibodies.

Conclusion: These 2 distinct research approaches showed (1) similar frequencies of SARS-CoV-2 immunoreactivities in CD patients and CTRL subjects and, (2) no ability of SARS-CoV-2 to induce a CD-specific immune response, at least in the 3-4 months following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords: CD; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2antibodies; anti-transglutaminase antibodies; celiac disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Lebwhol B, Sanders DS, Green PHR. Coeliac disease. Lancet. 2018;391:70–81. - PubMed
    1. Sànchez D, Hoffmanovà I, Szczepankovà A, et al. Contribution of infectious agents to the development of celiac disease. Microorganisms. 2021;9:547. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bouziat R, Hinterleitner R, Brown JJ, et al. Reovirus infection triggers inflammatory responses to dietary antigens and development of celiac disease. Science. 2017;356:44–50. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:727–733. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Puoti MG, Rybak A, Kiparissi F, et al. SARS-CoV-2 and the gastrointestinal tract in children. Front Pediatr. 2021;9:617980. - PMC - PubMed