Circulating gliadin-specific T-cells are increased in active
disease with ileal inflammation
ARTE technology was applied to all blood samples (Figure 1A )
for various nutritional antigens, including controls for
antigen-specific T-cell enrichment and T‑cell activation. Moreover, we
could clearly demonstrate the necessity for T-cell enrichment to allow
for deeper cell analysis and therefore the advantage of this method over
direct staining protocols for rare antigen-specific cell populations
(Figure 1B ). With the overall frequency of
CD4+ T-cells remaining stable in the various disease
conditions (Figure 1C ), the frequency of gliadin-specific
CD154+ T-cells among CD4+ T-cells in
PBMC was expectedly highest in active CeD (aCeD), i.e. without GFD, as
well as in refractory CeD patients (Refr). aCeD are rare patients as we
did not actively initiate a gluten-re-challenge. Moreover the
frequencies were also significantly increased in CeD patients on a GFD
without clinical symptoms, when compared to healthy controls.
Remarkably, a similar frequency to active CeD patients was observed in
active CD patients with ileal inflammation (Figure 2A ).
The frequency was significantly lower in CD patients in remission, in UC
patients, independent of their inflammatory state and in healthy
controls. Interestingly, first-degree relatives (FDR) of CeD patients,
considered healthy by standard diagnostics, revealed a significant
increase in the frequency of gliadin-specific T-cells compared to
controls without familiar predisposition of CeD. Of notice, RA as
auto-inflammatory control without intestinal inflammation, did not
differ from healthy controls.