Symptoms Of Selective IgA Deficiency And Related Conditions

Asthma

Asthma is a respiratory condition characterized by bronchial spasms in an individual's lungs that cause problems with breathing, produce inflammation, and increase the production of mucus. Asthma occurs when irritants make it into the lungs, and the immune system has a hypersensitive reaction to the irritant. Symptoms of asthma include wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing. The exact causes of asthma are not clear, but it is known that the inflammatory process in the lungs is what produces asthma attack symptoms.

Healthy individuals have mucus that lines the inside of their airways and lungs that helps expel and keep irritants out of the body. Selective IgA deficiency patients have mucus that does not work as well, predisposing them to immune-mediated hypersensitivity to irritants that are not immediately expelled or have reached underlying tissues.

Gluten Intolerance

An individual with selective IgA deficiency may also be affected by celiac disease, which is characterized by gluten intolerance. Individuals affected by immunoglobulin A deficiency are between ten and twenty times more likely than an unaffected individual to develop celiac disease. The unique connection stems from the fact a test for celiac disease may turn up a false negative result in an individual affected by immunoglobulin A deficiency and celiac disease.

An immunoglobulin A deficiency can cause the tests for anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies, anti-endomysium antibodies, and anti-deamidated gliadin peptide antibodies to come up negative when the antibodies are actually present in an individual's body. Patients who have an immunoglobulin A deficiency should be tested for IgG anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies instead of IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies because the test performed on immunoglobulin A will not provide accurate results.