[Anti-endomysium antibodies: a new marker for the diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease]. / Gli anticorpi antiendomisio: un nuovo marker per la diagnosi ed il trattamento della malattia celiaca.

Coeliac disease is the most frequent cause of chronic diarrhea (1:1000 children) in Italy. It often has atypical symptoms, so a sensitive and specific test is needed that can both simplify the ESPGAM criteria and monitor compliance of patients to their gluten free diet. The AEmA (anti endomysium antibody), found by Chorzelsky in 1984, appears to be a very sensitive and specific screening test in the diagnosis of coeliac disease (CD). Sera from 150 children, mean age 4 years (range 6 months to 20 years) were tested for endomysium antibodies (IgA class) and anti gliadin antibodies (IgG class). From our preliminary study IgA-AEmA seem to be more specific for CD than IgG class anti-gliaadin antibodies.