The value of a biopsy in celiac disease follow up: assessment of the small bowel after 6 and 24 months treatment with a gluten free diet.

INTRODUCTION: a routine small bowel biopsy (SBB) during the follow up of celiac disease (CD) is controversial. Little information is available regarding the histological changes during (gluten free diet (GFD) in the long term. OBJECTIVES: the aim of the study was to evaluate a novel criterion to compare duodenal histology in CD patients after six months and two years of gluten withdrawal. METHODS: this was a cross-sectional study of 200 patients with confirmed Marsh I-III who were under the six months (group A, n = 100) and 24 months (group B, n = 100) of a GFD. Nineteen patients were excluded due to an inadequate adherence to the GFD and another 23 patients were excluded as they were unwilling to undergo a re-endoscopy and did not comply with the necessary criteria. Endoscopy with a duodenal biopsy, serological assays and clinical evaluation were performed and compared with baseline data in the remaining 58 patients (20 patients in group A and 38 patients in group B). RESULTS: a significant complete histological recovery was found in 47.4% of patients in group B compared to 30% in group A (p = 0.026). A partial histological recovery was reported in seven (35%) and eleven (28.9%) patients in groups A and B, respectively. Any changes in mucosal histology after GFD was observed in 35% of patients in group A and 23.7% in group B. Serological assessment and endoscopic appearance normalized in 78.9% vs 75.0% in group B and 68.4% vs 65.0% in group A, respectively. However, this improvement did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: the results of this study show that histological recovery in patients with Marsh ≥ III is slow and does not correlate with symptomatic improvement. We suggest that the long-term effects of a GFD can play an important role in achieving histological improvement, especially in older patients.

The role of CXCR3 and its ligands CXCL10 and CXCL11 in the pathogenesis of celiac disease.

The chemokine receptor CXCR3 and its ligands CXCL10 and CXCL11 have been suggested to give rise to the most relevant chemokine axis able to facilitate the entrance of immune cells into inflamed tissues and be activated in different inflammatory disorders, such as celiac disease (CD).The aim of this study was to investigate the expression level of CXCR3, CXCL10, and CXCL11 genes in celiac patients compared to healthy controls. Both cohorts have been recruited from the Iranian population.In this case-control study, biopsy specimens were collected from 71 celiac patients (60.5% female) and 90 control subjects (57% female) during 2016. Total RNA was extracted and mRNA expression levels of CXCR3, CXCL10, and CXCL11 genes were investigated by SYBR green qPCR.Based on qPCR and relative quantification method, the mRNA expression levels of CXCR3, CXCL10, and CXCL11 were significantly higher in duodenal biopsies of celiac patients compared to healthy controls in the study population (P = .038, P = .021, and P = .012 respectively).The result of this study showed that CXCR3/CXCL10/CXCL11 signaling axis is overexpressed in the small intestinal mucosa of CD patients compared to controls. This finding might explain the specific enrollment of the main cell populations that infiltrate the epithelium.