Jejunal biopsy and lymphocyte co-culture in coeliac disease

Jejunal biopsies from 13 patients with treated coeliac disease were maintained in organ culture for 24 h with and without the addition of gluten fraction III, in each case with and without autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Biopsies cultured with gluten alone or with lymphocytes alone showed no significant reduction in mean enterocyte height compared with those cultured in control medium, but those cultured with both gluten and lymphocytes had significantly lower enterocyte height than control biopsies, than those cultured with gluten alone, and than those cultured with lymphocytes alone. These results demonstrate that the combination of gluten and lymphocytes is more toxic to treated coeliac mucosa in vitro than either one alone and support the suggestion that immune reactions to gluten may be important in the pathogenesis of the mucosal lesion of coeliac disease.