Celiac Disease Antibody Tests
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- Also Known As:
- Anti-tissue Transglutaminase Antibody
- tTG
- Endomysial Antibody
- EMA
- Anti-deamidated Gliadin Peptides
- DGP
- Antireticulin Antibodies
- ARA
- Immunoglobulin A
- Total
- IgA
- Formal Name:
- Tissue Transglutaminase Antibody
- Deaminated Gliadin Peptide Antibodies
- Anti-Endomysial Antibodies
- Anti-Reticulin Antibodies
- Quantitative Immunoglobulin A

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At a Glance
Why Get Tested?
To help diagnose celiac disease and to evaluate the effectiveness of a gluten-free diet
When To Get Tested?
When you have symptoms suggesting celiac disease, such as chronic diarrhea, bloating, abdominal pain, anemia, and weight loss; when an infant is chronically irritable or fails to grow at a normal rate; when a close family member has celiac disease; when you are being treated for celiac disease
Sample Required?
A blood sample drawn from a vein in your arm
Test Preparation Needed?
Follow your health care practitioner’s instructions. For diagnosis, you should continue to eat foods that contain gluten for a time period, such as several weeks, prior to testing. For monitoring celiac disease when you have already been diagnosed, no preparation is necessary.
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What is being tested?
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder characterized by an inappropriate immune response to gluten, a protein found in wheat, and related dietary proteins in rye and barley. Celiac disease antibody tests help diagnose and monitor the disease and a few other gluten-sensitive conditions. These tests detect autoantibodies in the blood that the body produces as part of the immune response.
This immune response leads to inflammation of the small intestine and to damage and destruction of the villi that line the intestinal wall. The villi are projections, small tissue folds that increase the surface area of the intestine and allow nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fluids, and electrolytes to be absorbed into the body. When a susceptible person is exposed to gluten, the person’s body produces autoantibodies that act against constituents of the intestinal villi. When villi are damaged or destroyed, the body is much less capable of absorbing food and begins to develop signs and symptoms associated with malnutrition and malabsorption.
A tissue biopsy of the small intestine is still considered the gold standard to use to confirm a diagnosis of celiac disease, but the availability of less invasive blood tests to screen for celiac disease has reduced the number of biopsies needed.
Common Questions
Health Professionals – LOINC
LOINC Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC®) is the international standard for identifying health measurements, observations, and documents. It provides a common language to unambiguously identify things you can measure or observe that enables the exchange and aggregation of clinical results for care delivery, outcomes management, and research. Learn More.
Listed in the table below are the LOINC with links to the LOINC detail pages. Please note when you click on the hyperlinked code, you are leaving Testing.com and accessing Loinc.org.
LOINC | LOINC Display Name |
---|---|
53023-8 | tTG Ab Ql (S) |
54929-5 | tTG Ab IF (S) [Titer] |
13092-2 | Endomysium Ab Qn (S) |
16815-3 | Endomysium Ab IF Qn (S) |
31365-0 | Endomysium Ab Ql (S) |
16814-6 | Endomysium Ab IF Ql (S) |
14708-2 | Endomysium Ab (S) [Titer] |
25399-7 | Endomysium Ab IF (S) [Titer] |
58709-7 | Gliadin peptide IgA Qn (S) |
63453-5 | Gliadin peptide IgA IA Qn (S) |
47393-4 | Gliadin peptide IgA IA Ql (S) |
58710-5 | Gliadin peptide IgG Qn (S) |
63459-2 | Gliadin peptide IgG IA Qn (S) |
47394-2 | Gliadin peptide IgG IA Ql (S) |
5296-9 | Reticulin Ab Qn (S) |
17521-6 | Reticulin Ab Ql (S) |
57414-5 | Reticulin Ab IF Ql (S) |
9398-9 | Reticulin Ab (S) [Titer] |
51722-7 | Reticulin Ab IF (S) [Titer] |
38487-5 | IgA Qn (S) |
2458-8 | IgA [Mass/Vol] |
44389-5 | IgA Ql (S) |
76487-8 | IgA [Moles/Vol] |
31017-7 | tTG IgA Qn (S) |
46128-5 | tTG IgA IA Qn (S) |
35285-6 | tTG IgA Ql (S) |
35280-7 | tTG IgA IA Ql (S) |
69727-6 | Tissue transglutaminase IgA + Gliadin peptides IgA and IgG Nar (S) [Interp] |
32998-7 | tTG IgG Qn (S) |
56537-4 | tTG IgG IA Qn (S) |
53026-1 | tTG IgG Ql (S) |
View Sources
Sources Used in Current Review
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