Antigliadin antibodies in Huntington's disease.

The relevance of gluten sensitivity in sporadic and hereditary ataxia pathogenesis is unclear. The authors found high antigliadin antibody titers in 23 of 52 (44%) patients with Huntington's disease (HD), suggesting a previously unrecognized association between HD and gluten sensitivity. The results further question "gluten ataxia" as a distinct disease entity and raise the possibility that antigliadin antibodies in ataxia and other neurodegenerative diseases may be an epiphenomenon, the mechanisms of which remain to be investigated.