Chromosome instability in lymphocytes of children with coeliac disease.

Undiagnosed individuals with celiac disease (CD) or those who do not comply with gluten-free diet (GFD) are at a higher risk of developing malignancies. A possible origin of chromosomal alteration in autoimmune reaction could be mistakes in the rearrangement of V(D)J of the IgH gene. Our aim was to verify whether higher genomic instability was found in coeliac individuals and whether GFD reduced it. As marker of genomic instability we analysed the frequency of 2 translocations, t(14;18) and t(11;14), in peripheral blood by nested PCR, in 37 patients with CD at diagnosis, 27 patients with CD after 2 years on GFD, and 36 control individuals. No significant differences were found.