High normal serum levels of C3 and C1 inhibitor, two acute-phase proteins belonging to the complement system, occur more frequently in patients with Crohn's disease than ulcerative colitis.
Few data are available on measurements of serum concentrations of complement proteins in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Therefore we measured serum levels of C3, C4, and C1-esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) as well as C-reactive protein (CRP) in 167 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and 111 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Median serum concentrations of C3 and C1-INH were significantly higher in CD than in UC. According to multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted to age, sex, activity of disease, and presence of extraintestinal manifestations, IBD patients with high-normal (> or = 128%, > or = 75th percentile ) C1-INH concentrations had significantly (0.0275) higher odds ratio to have a diagnosis of CD than UC. Patients with high-normal C3 (> or = 1.40 g/liter) and high (> or =20 mg/liter) CRP concentrations had an even higher odds ratio of a CD diagnosis (P = 0.0132). Our findings indicate that measurement of C3, C1-INH, and CRP can be used as an additional marker to pANCA/ASCA for distinguishing patients with CD and UC.
Bene
László
L
Department of Gastroenterology, S Péterfy Hospital, Budapest, Hungary.
Füst
George
G
Fekete
Béla
B
Kovács
Agota
A
Horváth
Laura
L
Prohászka
Zoltán
Z
Miklós
Kata
K
Pálos
Gábor
G
Daha
Mohamed
M
Farkas
Henriette
H
Varga
Lilian
L
D000328:Adult; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000097:blood*; D003174:Complement C1 Inactivator Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D003176:Complement C3 / Q000032:analysis*; D003181:Complement C4 / Q000032:analysis*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male
D003174:Complement C1 Inactivator Proteins; D003176:Complement C3; D003181:Complement C4; D002097:C-Reactive Protein