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Biomedical subjects

K Kaukinen

Publications and source records attributed to K Kaukinen.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Celiac disease without villous atrophy: revision of criteria called for.

Current diagnostic criteria of celiac disease require small bowel villous atrophy, although the damage develops gradually. We therefore searched for evidence of disease in 10 adults suspected to have celiac disease, but evincing only minor mucosal inflammation and increase in gammadelta+ cells without villous atrophy. Twenty untreated celiac and 27 nonceliac patients served as biopsy controls. CD3+, alphabeta+, and gammadelta+ cells were increased in patients with only minor mucosal lesions, but less than in celiac patients. The inflammation resolved on gluten-free diet, and abdominal symptoms were alleviated. Eight of 10 had positive endomysial, seven gliadin, and nine tissue transglutaminase antibodies; all normalized on diet. Eight patients had osteopenia; HLA DQ2 was found in all. Minor mucosal lesions with an increase in gammadelta+ intraepithelial lymphocytes were suggestive of celiac disease. Our patients showed a clinical, histological, and serological recovery on diet; risk of osteopenia speaks in favor of dietary treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Autoimmune hypopituitarism in patients with coeliac disease: symptoms confusingly similar.

Coeliac disease does not always respond properly to a gluten-free diet, and treatment may be complicated by an underlying autoimmune endocrine disorder. We report three cases of hypopituitarism in patients with coeliac disease who seemed to have incomplete dietary response. The first patient had diabetes and suffered from hypoglygaemic events; the second had muscular atrophy of unknown origin while the third had growth failure. None had a pituitary mass, suggesting that hypopituitarism was of autoimmune origin. Overall condition improved only after replacement therapy for the underlying hormone deficiency; this association should thus be recognized.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed2000

Intolerance to cereals is not specific for coeliac disease.

BACKGROUND: Abdominal complaints after ingestion of cereals are not uncommon. We assessed how reliable such a history is as a marker for the presence of overt coeliac disease, and whether we should also take into account latent coeliac disease and cereal allergy. METHODS: The study group comprised 93 consecutive adults from health centres spontaneously reporting abdominal symptoms after consumption of cereals. Small bowel mucosal morphology, CD3+, alphabeta+ and gammadelta+ intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs), HLA DQ alleles and serum IgA-class endomysial (EmA), tissue transglutaminase (tTg) and gliadin (AGA) antibodies were determined. Skin prick and patch tests and serum radioallergosorbent tests for cereals were carried out. Thirty non-coeliac adults served as biopsy controls. RESULTS: Eight (9%) patients had coeliac disease and one mild partial villous atrophy. Altogether 17 had an increased density of gamma delta+ IELs without atrophy. However, only seven (8%) showed evidence of latent coeliac disease, i.e. both an increase in gammadelta+ IELs and the presence of coeliac disease-type HLA. One or more of the allergy tests for cereals was positive in 19; 9 adopted a gluten-free diet and abdominal symptoms were alleviated in all. In non-coeliac patients, serum EmA and tTg tests were negative in all, whereas AGA was seen in 40%. CONCLUSIONS: Intolerance to cereals is not a specific sign of overt or latent coeliac disease. All experimental dietary interventions before proper diagnosis of coeliac disease are therefore to be discouraged. Allergy to cereals, on the other hand, should be considered even in adults.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Gastrointestinal symptoms rating scale in coeliac disease patients on wheat starch-based gluten-free diets.

BACKGROUND: A wheat starch-based gluten-free diet is widely adopted in the treatment of coeliac disease, even though the products contain trace amounts of gluten. The aim here was to establish whether such a diet sustains abdominal symptoms. METHODS: The Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) was applied to 58 coeliac disease patients on gluten-free diets and 110 non-coeliac controls. An estimate was made of daily dietary fibre and wheat starch-derived gluten. Psychological well-being was evaluated by a structured interview. Twenty-three coeliac patients consented to small-bowel biopsy. RESULTS: The mean GSRS score in coeliac disease patients did not differ from that in control subjects. Poorer psychological well-being was associated with abdominal symptoms in coeliac patients, whereas the daily amount of wheat starch had no effect on GSRS score. Overall dietary compliance was good, and villous atrophy was found in only 2 out of 23 patients. The average fibre consumption, 13 g per day, was lower than recommended. CONCLUSIONS: Wheat starch-based gluten-free products are well-tolerated in coeliac disease patients, provided that their diets are otherwise strict.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Celiac disease and autoimmune endocrinologic disorders.

Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, autoimmune thyroid disease, Addison's disease, and alopecia areata are at increased risk of celiac disease. We investigated whether patients with more than one autoimmune endocrinologic disorder are even more susceptible to celiac disease or have celiac-type mucosal inflammation. All 62 patients found to have such multiple diseases in 1994-1996 were investigated. Small bowel biopsy was performed on all voluntary nonceliac subjects. The villous structure and density of intraepithelial lymphocytes were examined, and HLA-DQ alleles were determined. Seven (11%) patients had celiac disease: six cases were detected earlier and there was one new case; in addition, two had minor villous deterioration and five an increased density of mucosal intraepithelial gammadelta+ T-cells. HLA-DQ2 or DQ8 alleles were found in all subjects with mucosal changes. Patients with multiple autoimmune disorders clearly run an increased risk of developing celiac disease, and some of them have minor mucosal changes compatible with the early signs of the disease.

Addison Disease↗
PubMed1999

Wheat starch-containing gluten-free flour products in the treatment of coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis. A long-term follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether wheat starch-based gluten-free products are safe in the treatment of gluten intolerance. METHODS: The study involved 41 children and adults with coeliac disease and 11 adults with dermatitis herpetiformis adhering to a gluten-free diet for 8 years on average. Thirty-five newly diagnosed coeliac patients at diagnosis and 6 to 24 months after the start of a gluten-free diet and 27 non-coeliac patients with dyspepsia were investigated for comparison. Daily dietary gluten and wheat starch intake were calculated. Small-bowel mucosal villous architecture, CD3+, alphabeta+, and gammadelta+ intraepithelial lymphocytes, mucosal HLA-DR expression, and serum endomysial, reticulin, and gliadin antibodies were investigated. RESULTS: Forty of 52 long-term-treated patients adhered to a strict wheat starch-based diet and 6 to a strict naturally gluten-free diet; 6 patients had dietary lapses. In the 46 patients on a strict diet the villous architecture, enterocyte height, and density of alphabeta+ intraepithelial lymphocytes were similar to those in non-coeliac subjects and better than in short-term-treated coeliac patients. The density of gammadelta(+)cells was higher, but they seemed to decrease over time with the gluten-free diet. Wheat starch-based gluten-free flour products did not cause aberrant upregulation of mucosal HLA-DR. The mucosal integrity was not dependent on the daily intake of wheat starch in all patients on a strict diet, whereas two of the six patients with dietary lapses had villous atrophy and positive serology. CONCLUSION: Wheat starch-based gluten-free flour products were not harmful in the treatment of coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Clinical features of celiac disease today.

The clinical spectrum of celiac disease has widened over the past decades. The condition is no longer a severe malabsorption syndrome. Instead, a typical celiac disease patient today has merely mild abdominal symptoms. Malabsorption can be subclinical or absent, and there is usually only moderate, if any, loss of weight. Simultaneously, the current prevalence has increased from 1:1,000 to 1:300 inhabitants, or even higher. Clinically silent celiac disease cases are being detected in increasing numbers since the introduction and widespread use of serologic screening tests. Symptoms of celiac disease can appear outside the intestine, a typical example being dermatitis herpetiformis. Gluten intolerance is no longer limited to overt villous atrophy. Inflammation without villous damage may be observed in genetically susceptible individuals. The term latent celiac disease is applied in situations where the patient has normal villous architecture while on a gluten-containing diet, but later develops small bowel villous atrophy compatible with celiac disease.

Autoimmune Diseases↗
PubMed1998

Small-bowel mucosal inflammation in reticulin or gliadin antibody-positive patients without villous atrophy.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether individuals with positive coeliac disease antibodies but without small-bowel villous atrophy have mucosal inflammation implicating gluten-sensitivity. METHODS: Small-bowel mucosal morphology; CD3+, alphabeta+, and gammadelta+ T-cell receptor-bearing intraepithelial lymphocytes; and mucosal HLA-DR expression were studied in 96 IgA-class antireticulin or antigliadin antibody-positive adults suspected of having coeliac disease and in 27 control subjects. RESULTS: Villous atrophy compatible with coeliac disease was found in altogether 29 patients, in 18 of 21 (86%) patients with both antireticulin and antigliadin antibodies, in 9 of 15 (60%) patients with antireticulin antibodies only, and in 2 of 60 (3%) with antigliadin antibodies only. In 67 antibody-positive patients with normal villous architecture the densities of CD3+, alphabeta+, and gammadelta+ intraepithelial lymphocytes were significantly higher than in non-coeliac control subjects. Ten patients with initially increased densities of gammadelta+ T cells but normal villous structure underwent a follow-up biopsy after 4-18 months, which showed villous atrophy in five patients. CONCLUSIONS: IgA-class antireticulin or antigliadin antibody-positive patients with normal small-bowel mucosal morphology frequently have immunohistochemical markers of coeliac disease latency. Together with our follow-up data this implies that they may be gluten-sensitive.

Adolescent↗