title: [Immunogenetics of celiac disease].
abstract: Celiac disease is an auto-immune enteropathy involving genetic factors. It is associated in almost all the patients, to specific susceptibility alleles encoding histocompatibility antigens (HLA for human leucocyte antigen), specifically certain variants of the HLA-DQ2, and the HLA-DQ8 HLA class II molecules. Its estimated prevalence is 1% in the european and north-american populations. However, although these alleles represent the main genetic factor for this disease, they do not explain it on their own, as they are expressed by up to 30% of the population. Recent immunological advances allowed identifying the immunodominant epitopes of gluten, to establish the role of tissue transglutaminase in the disease and to define at the atomic level the presentation of these antigens by the HLA-DQ molecule. It is noteworthy that the HLA susceptibility alleles only account for 40% of the whole genetic risk, and the challenge is now to explain the remaining 60%. Genome-wide association studies using the DNA arrays technology to screen single nucleotide polymorphisms to pinpoint candidate regions and genes, have started to provide answers, but contradictory results sometimes still persist. Most of the genes emerging as statistically significantly associated with celiac disease are involved in the immune response, and suggest that the situation is complex.
authors: Laboratoire d'immunologie et d'immunogénétique, hôpital Pellegrin, CHU de Bordeaux, place Amélie-Raba-Léon,33076 Bordeaux cedex, France.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Roujon
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Guidicelli
authors: J-F
authors: JF
authors: Moreau
authors: J-L
authors: JL
authors: Taupin