Case report: idiopathic hypoparathyroidism co-existing with celiac disease: immunologic studies

Idiopathic hypoparathyroidism (IH) is often an isolated disorder in adults, but in children it is usually a component of the autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome. The authors describe a patient diagnosed with isolated IH at age 57 and celiac disease at age 64. Testing of patients' serum show antibodies of the immunoglobulin A isotype against endomysium, reticulin, and gliadin antigens, as well as immunoglobulin G against gliadin. The circulating immunoglobulins reacted with bovine parathyroid tissue, specifically smooth muscle of the blood vessels and glandular cells, as detected by indirect immunofluorescence. Testing of celiac disease positive sera showed similar parathyroid reactivity. When the patient was placed on a gluten-free diet, endomysial, reticulin, and gliadin antibodies decreased to undetectable levels, which was parallel with disappearance of the parathyroid immunoreactivity. The gluten-free diet also produced severe hypercalcemia that responded to calcitriol withdrawal, and ultimately required a reduction by half of the original calcitriol dose. It is possible that in this case the same antibody or antibodies may have caused both hypoparathyroidism and celiac disease. We conclude that, as in the case of childhood-onset IH variants, patients with late-onset isolated IH should be monitored for additional endocrine and extra-endocrine autoimmune disorders.