Reviewer's report
Title:Serological parameters in the spectrum of coeliac disease: beyond
standard antibody testing - a cohort study
Version: 1Date:4 July 2012
Reviewer: Ilma Korponay-Szabo
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript from G. Tack and colleagues describes inflammatory parameter
values measured from the serum of patients with active and treated celiac
disease as well as of those with an intestinal inflammation refractory to
gluten-exclusion. The paper is well written and provides interesting insight into
the spectrum of CD.
Major comments:
1. I suggest to change the title and other relevant parts from ’serological’
parameters to ’serum’ parameters. Serology is traditionally used in connection
with celiac disease to mean serum antibody testing which is here not the case.
2. Please provide normal serum values in non-celiac subjects for each
parameter. This could be also shown as a normal range in the figures. Do these
parameters show any age-dependency in normal people (children-adults-elderly)
? This would be important to exclude as the RCD/EATL groups were significantly
older than the non-complicated CD groups.
3. It is a question whether RCDII or EATL represent just a higher level of
inflammation compared to CD or other inflammatory conditions. I suggest to
include a comparison group with other gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders
like H.pylori infections, Whipple disease, diverticulitis or other lymphomas to gain
more insight into the diagnostic value. Further, relevant data on Crohn’s disease
from the literature may be more discussed in the discussion.
Minor Essential Revisions
4. Page 4. Please introduce the tTGA, EMA and DGPA abbreviations and
antibody tests properly.
5. Statistics: for parameters with p=0.00 please add exact values (e.g. 10-5 etc.)
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer's report
Title:Serological parameters in the spectrum of coeliac disease: beyond
standard antibody testing - a cohort study
Version: 1Date:4 July 2012
Reviewer: Ilma Korponay-Szabo
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript from G. Tack and colleagues describes inflammatory parameter
values measured from the serum of patients with active and treated celiac
disease as well as of those with an intestinal inflammation refractory to
gluten-exclusion. The paper is well written and provides interesting insight into
the spectrum of CD.
Major comments:
1. I suggest to change the title and other relevant parts from ’serological’
parameters to ’serum’ parameters. Serology is traditionally used in connection
with celiac disease to mean serum antibody testing which is here not the case.
2. Please provide normal serum values in non-celiac subjects for each
parameter. This could be also shown as a normal range in the figures. Do these
parameters show any age-dependency in normal people (children-adults-elderly)
? This would be important to exclude as the RCD/EATL groups were significantly
older than the non-complicated CD groups.
3. It is a question whether RCDII or EATL represent just a higher level of
inflammation compared to CD or other inflammatory conditions. I suggest to
include a comparison group with other gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders
like H.pylori infections, Whipple disease, diverticulitis or other lymphomas to gain
more insight into the diagnostic value. Further, relevant data on Crohn’s disease
from the literature may be more discussed in the discussion.
Minor Essential Revisions
4. Page 4. Please introduce the tTGA, EMA and DGPA abbreviations and
antibody tests properly.
5. Statistics: for parameters with p=0.00 please add exact values (e.g. 10-5 etc.)
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Serological parameters in the spectrum of coeliac disease: beyond
standard antibody testing - a cohort study
Version: 1Date:4 July 2012
Reviewer: Ilma Korponay-Szabo
Reviewer's report:
The manuscript from G. Tack and colleagues describes inflammatory parameter
values measured from the serum of patients with active and treated celiac
disease as well as of those with an intestinal inflammation refractory to
gluten-exclusion. The paper is well written and provides interesting insight into
the spectrum of CD.
Major comments:
1. I suggest to change the title and other relevant parts from ’serological’
parameters to ’serum’ parameters. Serology is traditionally used in connection
with celiac disease to mean serum antibody testing which is here not the case.
2. Please provide normal serum values in non-celiac subjects for each
parameter. This could be also shown as a normal range in the figures. Do these
parameters show any age-dependency in normal people (children-adults-elderly)
? This would be important to exclude as the RCD/EATL groups were significantly
older than the non-complicated CD groups.
3. It is a question whether RCDII or EATL represent just a higher level of
inflammation compared to CD or other inflammatory conditions. I suggest to
include a comparison group with other gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders
like H.pylori infections, Whipple disease, diverticulitis or other lymphomas to gain
more insight into the diagnostic value. Further, relevant data on Crohn’s disease
from the literature may be more discussed in the discussion.
Minor Essential Revisions
4. Page 4. Please introduce the tTGA, EMA and DGPA abbreviations and
antibody tests properly.
5. Statistics: for parameters with p=0.00 please add exact values (e.g. 10-5 etc.)
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
assistant