title: Endotoxaemia in patients with Crohn's disease: a longitudinal study of elastase/alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor and Limulus-amoebocyte-lysate reactivity.
abstract: During intensive care, the severity of gut-derived systemic endotoxaemia in 16 patients with active Crohn's disease was characterized by the simultaneous determination of elastase/alpha 1-proteinase-inhibitor and Limulus-amoebocyte-lysate-reactivity. Using both assays in 15/16 patients the detectable endotoxic activity during the disease course was reflected by a parallelism between elastase/alpha 1-proteinase-inhibitor and Limulus-amoebocyte-lysate-reactivity. In 8 gut-irrigated patients, significantly lower elastase/alpha 1-proteinase-inhibitor concentrations and Limulus-amoebocyte-lysate-reactivities were measured compared with 8 gut-nonirrigated patients. The Crohn's disease activity index and the van Hees activity index as well as the inpatient time were significantly lower in lavage patients compared with gut-nonirrigated patients. It is concluded with that elastase/alpha 1-proteinase-inhibitor can be used as an alternative to the bioassayed Limulus-amoebocyte-lysate-reactivity in order to characterize systemic endotoxaemia.
authors.affiliation: Zentralkrankenhaus, Bremen.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suin de Boutemard
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haeckel
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wellmann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001798:Blood Proteins; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood*; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008033:Limulus Test; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D004731:Endotoxins; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin