<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

lm in nashville <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I've read that celiac disease is an autosomal recessive trait, which I
>understood to mean that one would need a recessive gene from each side
>of one's family.  This is making less and less sense to me as I think about
>it.  I know that the environmental trigger must follow for the disease to
>express itself but does anyone have a better understanding of the predisposing
>genetic situation that must exist first?

We have placed a long file on the listserv which covers the genetics of
celiac in a fair amount of detail.  It can be retreived by sending an email
to [log in to unmask] with the body

GET CELIAC CEL-HLA

The general gist is that no single gene has been discovered to be responsible
for CD.  Geneticists suspect multiple genes are involved.  However, getting
one copy of the DR3 marker (an HLA type, not a gene per se) is sufficient to
put one at risk for CD, since DR3 contains two submarkers which are
associated with CD.  This generally comes from one parent, although there is
a less common way that the same two submarkers can be acquired if DR5 comes
from one parent and DR7 from the other.

Bill Elkus
Los Angeles