Our results suggest that CD occurs frequently not only in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, but also in first- and second-degree relatives and patients with numerous common disorders even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms. The prevalence of CD in symptomatic patients and not-at-risk subjects was similar to that reported in Europe. Celiac disease appears to be a more common but neglected disorder than has generally been recognized in the United States.

Based on our results, we concluded that gliadin activates zonulin signaling irrespective of the genetic expression of autoimmunity, leading to increased intestinal permeability to macromolecules.

Objective. Subclinical gut inflammation has been demonstrated in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Intestinal inflammation is a shared feature of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and Crohn's disease (CD). Shared immunologic and genetic similarities, in both clinical and preclinical stages, and the observation that 7% of patients with AS and initial chronic gut inflammation develop overt CD strongly support the hypothesis that AS patients with more pronounced gut inflammation could be considered to have preclinical CD (1-3).We have recently demonstrated that overexpres-

In this study, we provide evidence that over-expression of PC-derived anti-microbial peptides occurs in the ileum of AS patients with subclinical gut inflammation, likely representing an important early alteration of the mucosal innate immune component and intestinal host defence in AS.