GENETIC TESTING FOR CELIAC DISEASE
HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 Gene Test for Celiac Disease
People with celiac disease carry one or both of the HLA DQ2 and DQ8 genes, but so does up to 25-30% of the general population.
Celiac disease is linked to heredity, what this means is that you can only develop celiac if you carry the genes that predispose you to it. For this reason more and more doctors are using celiac disease genetic testing to determine if someone has the predisposition to develop the condition.
The genes that predispose you to celiac disease are located on the HLA-class II complex of our DNA, and they’re known as the DQ genes. Everyone has two copies of a DQ gene – one from their mother and one from their father. There are numerous types of DQ genes, but there are two that are important when it comes to the development and predisposition to celiac disease cases: HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8.
Of these, HLA-DQ2 is the most common in the general population, especially among people with European heritage – some 30% or more of people whose ancestors hailed from that part of the world carry HLA-DQ2.
HLA-DQ8 is shows up in about 10% of the overall population, although it’s extremely common in people from Central and South America.
Studies have shown that about 96% of the people diagnosed by biopsy with celiac disease carry DQ2, DQ8 or some combination of the two. Since you get one DQ gene from your mother and one from your father, it’s possible for you to have two copies of DQ2, two copies of DQ8, one copy of DQ2 and one of DQ8, or one copy of either DQ2 or DQ8 combined with another DQ gene.
What’s Being Tested:

• HLA-DQ2 Gene
• HLA-DQ8 Gene