Are the numeric values of antigliadin antibody a measure of severity?
As mentioned above, the numeric value of antibody is not necessarily a measure of severity of how your body is reacting to gluten, or the resultant damage of the reaction. This is because the main perpetrator of the immune response to gluten is not antibody but T lymphocytes (T cells) producing tissue-damaging chemicals called cytokines and chemokines. How much antibody is produced at the stimulus of T cells differs in different people. Furthermore, some people simply do not or cannot make alot of intestinal IgA antibody even though gluten may be stimulating a severe T cell-mediated immune response. Unlike antibody levels, the numeric value of malabsorption test results are an indicator of severity of intestinal damage (see below).
