A dot immunobinding assay to detect anti-alpha-gliadin antibodies in celiac disease.

A dot immunobinding assay to detect anti-alpha-gliadin-specific antibodies in the sera or whole blood of enteropathic patients is described here. The method is based on the adsorption of alpha-gliadin as a spot onto nitrocellulose sheets. After incubation with the patient sample, the detection of specific antibodies is performed with alkaline phosphatase-conjugated goat anti-human (IgA or IgG) antibodies. Twenty-one celiac serum samples together with 18 enteropathic or disease controls and 44 healthy controls were analyzed. The classical ELISA test and the dot test gave comparable results. The dot test gave reliable result even when whole blood was tested. The method proved to be simple and sensitive.