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CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY TO GLIADIN WITHIN THE SMALL-INTESTINAL MUCOSA IN CŒLIAC DISEASE

1975; Elsevier BV; Volume: 305; Issue: 7912 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0140-6736(75)91689-x

1474-547X

Anne Ferguson, J. P. McCLURE, Thomas T. MacDonald, R.J. Holden,

Helicobacter pylori-related gastroenterology studies

In an attempt to demonstrate local cell-mediated immunity (C.M.I.) to gliadin in patients with cœliac disease, fragments of jejunal-biopsy specimens were cultured in the presence and absence of α-gliadin and the culture-medium was assayed for its capacity to inhibit migration of normal human peripheral-blood leucocytes (i.e., for a migration-inhibition factor [M.I.F.]). No M.I.F. activity was detected in the culture-medium when biopsy specimens from patients with cœliac disease or controls were cultured without added antigen. However, an M.I.F. was secreted into the culture-medium when biopsy specimens from patients with cœliac disease were cultured with α-gliadin. These findings suggest that there is a population of lymphocytes which are sensitised to gliadin in the intestinal mucosa of patients with untreated cœliac disease. They support the theory that a local C.M.I. reaction to gliadin may be the cause of villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia in cœliac disease.