Is there an association between familial Mediterranean fever and celiac disease?

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and celiac disease (CD) shares some clinical features such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, arthralgia, and arthritis. Furthermore, both diseases are related to several inflammatory disorders. Based on these analogies, we have investigated whether there is any relationship between CD and FMF. The study had two groups. Group I: 50 children with FMF were questioned and examined for the evidence of CD, serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels, antigliadin antibodies (AGA) IgA, AGA IgG, and anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) IgA were tested, and intestinal biopsy was performed when necessary. Group II: 17 children with CD were evaluated for the presence of clinical and laboratory features of FMF and mutation analysis for MEFV gene was performed to all of them. Six predominant mutations (p.M694V, p.M680I, p.M694I, p.V726A, p.K695R, p.E148Q) in the MEFV gene were studied. The results were as follows-group I: three patients had diarrhea, six had abdominal pain, one had positive AGA IgA, six had AGA IgG, and one had EMA IgA. Intestinal biopsy was performed in one patient who was normal, so none of the patients with FMF were diagnosed as CD and group II: none of the patients with CD had complaints consistent with FMF. Four of the 17 patients (23.5%) were found to carry MEFV mutations. Three of them had heterozygous p.E148Q mutation and one of them had heterozygous p.M680I mutation. None of the FMF patients had CD. MEFV mutation frequency in patients with CD was similar to the normal population in Turkey. Our study did not reveal any association between CD and FMF.