Department of Equine Sciences, Medicine Section, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Vet Q. 2012;32(1):3-11. doi: 10.1080/01652176.2012.675636. Epub 2012 Apr 10.
Equine inflammatory small bowel disease (ISBD) is an idiopathic pathologic condition seeming to increase in prevalence.
To investigate the potential role of gluten in equine ISBD.
ANIMALS & METHODS: Antibodies known to be important in the diagnosis of human coeliac disease (CD): IgA antibodies to human recombinant and guinea pig tissue-transglutaminase (TGA), native gliadin (AGA), deamidated-gliadin-peptides (DGPA), and primate and equine endomysium (EMA) were assessed in blood samples from three different groups of horses: ISBD affected (n = 12) on a gluten-rich diet and controls either on gluten-rich (n = 22) or gluten-poor (n = 25) diets. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between groups were assessed using the Wilcoxon test.
Both ISBD-affected horses and gluten-rich controls had significantly (p < 0.0004) higher hrTGA titers than gluten-poor controls. However, ISBD horses did not show significantly increased levels of any of the CD related antibodies when compared to gluten-rich controls. Nevertheless, markedly increased antibody levels (TGA, EMA and DGPA) were found in one of the ISBD horses. The introduction of a gluten-free ration in this 14-year-old warmblood stallion resulted after 6 months in the reduction of antibody levels and clinical recovery associated with improved duodenal histopathology.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study assessing gluten-related antibodies in horses and results suggest a potential pathogenic role of gluten in at least some cases of equine ISBD. Clinical importance and impact for human medicine: Given serology and concurrent clinical findings, this study warrants further investigations into the immunologic basis of possible gluten-sensitive enteropathy in horses and analogy with human disease.
马的炎症性小肠疾病（ISBD）是一种特发性病理状况，似乎其发病率正在增加。
研究谷朊粉在马的 ISBD 中的潜在作用。
评估了三种不同马群的血液样本中与人类乳糜泻（CD）诊断相关的重要抗体：针对人重组和豚鼠组织转谷氨酰胺酶（TGA）、天然麦胶（AGA）、脱酰胺麦胶肽（DGPA）、灵长类动物和马的内肌内膜（EMA）的 IgA 抗体。这三组马分别是：患有 ISBD（n=12）且饮食中富含谷朊粉，以及饮食中富含（n=22）或缺乏（n=25）谷朊粉的对照组。使用 Wilcoxon 检验评估组间的差异（p<0.05）。
ISBD 患病马和富含谷朊粉的对照组的 hrTGA 滴度均显著升高（p<0.0004），而与富含谷朊粉的对照组相比，ISBD 马并未显示出任何 CD 相关抗体水平显著升高。然而，在其中一匹 ISBD 马中发现了明显增加的抗体水平（TGA、EMA 和 DGPA）。在这匹 14 岁的温血种公马中引入无谷朊饮食 6 个月后，抗体水平降低，临床症状改善，与改善的十二指肠组织病理学相关。
据我们所知，这是首次在马中评估与谷朊粉相关的抗体的研究，结果表明谷朊粉在某些马的 ISBD 中可能具有潜在的致病性作用。对人类医学的临床重要性和影响：鉴于血清学和同时的临床发现，本研究需要进一步调查马中可能的谷朊粉敏感肠病的免疫学基础，并与人类疾病进行类比。
