RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 High Incidence of Celiac Disease in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis JF The Journal of Rheumatology JO J Rheumatol FD The Journal of Rheumatology SP jrheum.081000 DO 10.3899/jrheum.081000 A1 Edoardo Rosato A1 Daniela De Nitto A1 Carmelina Rossi A1 Valerio Libanori A1 Giuseppe Donato A1 Marco Di Tola A1 Simonetta Pisarri A1 Felice Salsano A1 Antonio Picarelli YR 2009 UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2009/03/29/jrheum.081000.abstract AB Objective To evaluate the presence of celiac disease in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). The association of autoimmune diseases with celiac disease has been reported, but few publications deal with the combination of SSc and celiac disease. Methods We investigated the presence of anti-tissue transglutaminase (anti-tTG) antibodies and serum antiendomysial antibodies (anti-EMA) in 50 patients with SSc. All subjects were on a gluten-containing diet. Duodenal mucosa histology and biopsy culture were performed in anti-tTG-positive patients; anti-EMA and IgA, IgG1 anti-tTG were detected in culture supernatants. Results The incidence of celiac disease in patients with SSc was found to be 8%. Serum anti-tTG antibody-positive results were detectable in 5 out of 50 patients with SSc, but only in 4 of them was the diagnosis confirmed by histological results (Marsh classification). Conclusion Our data show an increased prevalence of celiac disease in patients with SSc.