Prostanoids in jejunal biopsy specimens of celiac children with active disease and on challenge diet. Radioimmunologic evaluation

Abstract Prostanoid generation (prostaglandin E 2 and thromboxane B 2) in jejunal biopsy specimens from celiac patients was evaluated, comparing celiac patients with celiac patients on challenge diet and controls. Generation of prostaglandin E 2 in jejunal specimens from 14 children with active celiac disease was significantly higher (341.8 ± 82.3 ng/g; mean ± SEM) than that from 7 celiac patients on gluten challenge diet (69.4 ± 13.2 ng/g) or 8 normal children (92 ± 23 ng/g) (p<0.05). In contrast, thromboxane B 2 generation in jejunal specimens from all three groups did not show any statistically significant variation. Our results indicate that prostaglandin E 2 generation is not merely related to the activity of clinical symptoms, since patients receiving gluten challenge had prostaglandin E 2 levels that did not differ from those of controls.