New research out of the United Kingdom calls a saliva test for celiac disease screening “attractive and promising”. Wouldn’t that be easy? Especially for children? The research is published in the Journal of Dental Research out of the UK.
The current screening for celiac disease is the serologic endomysial and tissue transglutaminase antibody tests, with an endoscopy and biopsy to follow for further, more specific answers. A saliva test would (someday) be another option to the blood test. Researchers hypothesize that “gluten could stimulate naïve lymphocytes (white blood cells) directly in the oral cavity” and perhaps a saliva test could detect that. According to the research, confirming this hypothesis “would have important implications for the understanding, diagnosis and management of celiac disease.”
You can read about the research in more detail at the Journal of Dental Research’s website.
Tags: blood screening, blood test, celiac disease, saliva test
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