Is celiac disease a lifelong disorder?

That celiac disease is a lifelong disorder was suggested by clinical case records and was considered to have been demonstrated through the widespread use of intestinal biopsies by the end of the 1950s. It was clear that the mucosal lesions observed in children and adults were identical and responded similarly to gluten withdrawal. In fact, in 1970 the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition instituted the practice of a challenge after diagnosis. A relapse of clinical symptoms and of the intestinal lesions after gluten was reintroduced into the diet demonstrated the "permanent" nature of sensitivity to gluten in children with celiac disease. Twenty-five years later, the permanence of the sensitivity of the intestinal mucosa to gluten is again a matter of debate. Several lines of evidence, gathered during recent years, show that celiac disease is not always a lifelong condition. First, the long-term follow-up of children with proven celiac disease shows that 10% to 20% of them become "tolerant" (defined on clinical, biological and histologic grounds) to gluten during adolescence. Second, it has also been shown, in individual cases, that the mucosal lesions typical of the disease may appear during adulthood. Our increasing knowledge of the long-term evolution of the disease suggests that celiac disease develops and, in some cases, fades in a predisposed group of people with intestinal sensitivity to gluten, which is probably a common condition. The factors leading to the appearance or disappearance of the disease, however, are still unknown.