Screening tests for coeliac disease may be useful to select the patients who should undergo a small intestine biopsy. It has been reported that the determination of serum levels of anti-
gliadin antibodies is a good screening method for small intestine damage in coeliac disease. We have retrospectively assessed the value of the anti-
gliadin antibody test in detecting villous
atrophy of the small bowel. Antigliadin
antibodies were measured with an ELISA technique in sera of 44 children seen at the Department of Paediatrics, Leiden University Hospital, who underwent 53 small intestine biopsies because of suspected coeliac disease. The relation between the histopathological findings of the small intestine and the results of the anti-
gliadin antibody quantifications in serum were studied. In 9 of the 10 children with villous
atrophy high Ig total and
IgG-titers were found. Five children with villous
atrophy, 2 of them with a selective
IgA-deficiency, had normal
IgA-AGA titers in serum. 17 Children with normal biopsies had high Ig total and
IgG-AGA titers, but no child with normal small intestine biopsy had high
IgA-AGA titers in serum. We conclude that the determination of anti-
gliadin antibodies as screening for mucosal damage must be based on the measurement of
antibodies within the
IgG as well as the
IgA class.