Gluten sensitivity and neurological manifestations

Abstract

The authors report on six cases of gluten-sensitivity, also defined non-celiac gluten sensitivity, characterized by abdominal features (diarrhea, bloating, pain), genetic positivity for predisposition to celiac disease (DQB1* 02 in all cases; DQA1*05 in three; DQA1*02 in two, DQB1*03 in two), negative anti-t-Transglutaminase antibodies, normal mucosa on biopsy in four cases, type 1 of Marsh in one case. The subjects presented frequent central nervous system (CNS) symptoms: headache in three patients, somnolence in one, electroencephalogram aspecific alterations in three (in two of them with previous seizures), leptomeningeal cyst in one, intracranial calcification in one, cerebral gliosis in two. After a gluten-free diet, all intestinal and clinical CNS features remitted, but re-appeared after gluten reintroduction. On the basis of the neurological signs, the authors stress the relevance of immune innate system in the pathogenesis of these cases with possible subsequent evolution on immune adaptive system involvement.