RESUMEN
Both celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) are autoimmune diseases resulting from a complex interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. AIM: In this retrospective study, we determined the frequency of auto-antibodies of T1D in adult patients with active CD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty adult patients with active CD were included in our study. Ninety healthy blood donors (HBD) served as control group. Anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase IgG antibodies (GAD-Ab), anti-tyrosine phosphatase IgG antibodies (IA2-Ab), and anti-zinc transporter IgG antibodies (Zn-T8-Ab) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for patients and control group. For statistical analysis, we used Chi-square or Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Out of 80 patients, 10 (12.50%) had auto-antibodies of T1D vs. only one in control group (1.11%) (p = 0.003). Simultaneous presence of GAD-Ab, IA2-Ab, and Zn-T8-Ab was found in one patient (1.25%). Nine patients had only GAD-Ab. IA2-Ab and Zn-T8-Ab were absent in all HBD. The frequency of GAD-Ab was significantly higher in CD patients than in HBD (12.5% vs 1.11%, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The present study has shown that CD is associated with a high frequency of auto-antibodies of T1D. Screening for T1D in this population, at risk for other autoimmune diseases, may be useful.