<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> J Pediatr. 2004 May;144(5):632-6 Tissue transglutaminase autoantibody detection in human saliva: A powerful method for celiac disease screening. Bonamico M, Ferri M, Nenna R, Verrienti A, Di Mario U, Tiberti C. Institute of Paediatrics and Department of Clinical Science, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Italy. OBJECTIVE: To test the possibility of detecting tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTG-Abs) in saliva with a novel sensitive fluid-phase radioimmunoassay (RIA).Study design Paired saliva and serum samples from 39 patients with celiac disease (CD), at the first biopsy (Group 1: 28 females, mean age 11.5 +/- 11.1 years); 32 controls with a normal duodenal mucosa (Group 2: 18 females, mean age 8.1 +/- 3.6 years); and 32 healthy volunteers (Group 3: 21 females, mean age 31.7 +/- 9.8 years) were studied for tTG-Ab presence. Limit of positivity for salivary assay was calculated according to the 99th percentiles of Group 2 control children and was expressed as an autoantibody (Ab) index. RESULTS: Salivary tTG-Abs were found in 97.4% of the patients with CD and in 100% of the corresponding serum samples. All Group 3 subjects were negative with both saliva and serum assays. A correlation between saliva and serum tTG-Ab titers was found (r=0.826, P=.0014). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that it is possible to detect salivary tTG-Abs in CD with a non-invasive, simple to perform, reproducible and sensitive method. PMID: 15126998 [PubMed] * * * *Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*