Affiliation:
1. Department of Experimental Medicine
2. “Sapienza” Foundation
3. Department of Maternal, Infantile and Urological Sciences
4. Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy
5. Hepatology Gastroenterology and Nutrition Unit, Bambino Gesù Children Hospital, Rome, Italy.
Abstract
Background:
Most evidence on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has been obtained from web- or telephone-based surveys. In particular, few laboratory data, often incomplete, have been reported on the frequency of COVID-19-related serology at celiac disease (CD) diagnosis or on the effects of COVID-19 on the development of CD-specific autoimmunity.
Objectives:
The objective of this retrospective cross-sectional case/control study was to: (1) evaluate the frequency of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in 78 children and adolescents at CD diagnosis (CD, 44 females, median age 7.4 years); (2) evaluate the frequency of IgA-anti-transglutaminase antibodies (IgA-tTGAbs) in 97 nonceliac patients (50 females, median age 9.0 years) who contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection during the pandemic (February–April 2021). As a control (CTRL) group, we analyzed 141 healthy subjects (79 females, median age 9.8 years) enrolled during the pandemic.
Methods:
SARS-CoV-2 IgM- and IgG-antibodies were detected by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassays. IgA-tTGAbs were detected by a fluid-phase radioimmunoassay.
Results:
Six out of 78 (7.7%) CD patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2Abs, with a frequency not significantly different from CTRL subjects (9.2%). None of the 97 nonceliac COVID-19 patients tested positive for IgA-tTG antibodies.
Conclusion:
These 2 distinct research approaches showed (1) similar frequencies of SARS-CoV-2 immunoreactivities in CD patients and CTRL subjects and, (2) no ability of SARS-CoV-2 to induce a CD-specific immune response, at least in the 3–4 months following SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences,General Environmental Science