Advances in celiac disease testing

Abstract

Celiac disease (CD) is a T cell-mediated inflammatory autoimmune disorder of the upper small intestine caused by the ingestion of gluten. It is increasingly recognized as a global problem by experts and societies. The diagnosis of CD is of crucial importance because its delay strongly affects patient's health and quality of life. The diagnosis of CD is, however, complex and requires reliable, sensitive, specific, rapid, simple, and cost-effective, as well-as non-invasive analytical tools. There is also a high demand to develop simple point-of-care (POC) tests for non-specialists at home or in doctors' offices. Analytical techniques are now moving toward the development of fast, more simple, non-invasive, and POC analyses. The present review focuses on recent advances of CD biomarker detection in body fluids, concerning CD specific autoantibody detection in blood and saliva using electrochemical, optic-fiber, and piezoelectric biosensors and POC finger-prick tests, and identifying CD characteristic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urine and feces.

Keywords: Autoantibodies; Biomarkers; Biosensors; Celiac disease; Gluten; Point-of-care; Volatile organic compounds.