title: The detection of serological factors in acute ulcerative colitis indicating a favourable short-term prognosis.
abstract: Large-intestinal epithelial cells were obtained from operation specimens and by biopsy at sigmoidoscopy from 16 patients with acute severe mucosal ulcerative colitis and II control subjects with normal large-bowel mucosa. The ability of lymphocytes to release 51Cr label from large-intestinal epithelial cells was quantitatively assessed as percentage lymphocyte activity. The mean +/- standard deviation of percentage lymphocyte activity in 16 patients with acute ulcerative colitis on admission to hospital (88 +/- 8) was significantly greater than that in II normal subjects (16 +/- 8) (P is less than 0.01). In each study, samples of autologous serum were added to two reactions between lymphocytes and autologous large-intestinal epithelial cells. The results in the seven patients who came to urgent colectomy differed significantly from those in the nine who responded to corticosteroids. The mean +/- S.D. of percentage serological inhibition of lymphocyte activity in the group coming to colectomy was 44 +/- 16, and in those responding to steroids 12 +/- 5. When the serum of these patients was studied for immunofluorescent autoantibodies to normal human colonic mucosa, none of the seven patients treated by colectomy had detectable autoantibodies, in contrast with three of the nine patients with a more favourable short-term prognosis, in that they responded to steroid treatment.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D003106:Colon / Q000276:immunology; D003601:Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007106:Immune Sera