The Frequency Distribution of Celiac Autoantibodies in Alopecia Areata.
BACKGROUND
Alopecia areata (AA) is a noncicatricial (nonscarring) alopecia. The association between AA and celiac disease (CD) is debatable. Several studies declare the relationship between AA and CD as measurement of celiac autoantibodies (anti-gliadin IgA and anti-gliadin IgG), but a few studies consider anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency distribution of celiac autoantibodies (all of them) in patients with AA compared with controls.


METHODS
This study is a case-control study. Thirty-five patients entered in each group. Anti-gliadin IgA, anti-gliadin IgG, and anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA were tested in all patients. Samples were examined in ELISA method with binding site's kits, and the result was reported as positive/negative. Finally, the frequency distribution of autoantibodies was examined.


RESULTS
The age average did not show a significant difference between two groups (P= 0.62). In addition, there was no significant difference between the two groups based on gender (P= 0.15). The prevalence of antibody in case and control groups was 2.85% and 0%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P= 0.31).


CONCLUSIONS
There may be a relationship between CD and AA, but the absence of statistical association between AA and CD does not mean that there is no relationship between gluten and AA in certain patients. Thus, we have shown here that the biological tests to search for CD do not bring information and proof enough, and it is why we recommend another approach to disclose gluten intolerance in AA patients.
Department of Dermatology, Skin Diseases and Leishmaniasis Research Center, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Fatemeh
F
Mokhtari
Student of Medicine, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Tayebeh
T
Panjehpour
Department of Dermatology, Skin Diseases and Leishmaniasis Research Center, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Farahnaz Fatemi
FF
Naeini
Department of Biostatics and Epidemiology, Skin Diseases and Leishmaniasis Research Center, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Sayed Mohsen
SM
Hosseini
Skin and Stem Cell Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad Ali
MA
Nilforoushzadeh
Department of Dermatology, Skin Diseases and Leishmaniasis Research Center, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Marzieh
M
Matin
Alopecia areata; autoantibodies; celiac; frequency distribution