title: Pancreatic autoantibodies in Greek patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: Pancreatic autoantibodies (PAbs) have been suggested as a specific but not sensitive marker for Crohn's disease (CD). The aim of this study was to assess the value of detecting PAbs in Greek patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and CD. Sera were collected from 150 patients with IBD (73 with UC and 77 with CD), 31 cases with non-IBD intestinal inflammation, 16 cases with other autoimmune diseases, and 104 healthy controls. Determination of PAbs was performed by a standard indirect immunofluorescence technique. PAbs were detected in 18 of 73 (24.7%) samples from UC patients and in 32 of 77 (41.6%) samples from CD patients. The prevalence of positive PAbs was significantly higher in CD than in UC (P = 0.04). None of the 104 samples from healthy controls and the 31 cases with non-IBD intestinal inflammation had detectable PAbs. One patient with Sjogren's syndrome was PAbs positive. No association of PAbs with IBD activity, IBD localization, or medical treatment was found. Patients with stenotic CD had a significantly higher prevalence of PAbs positivity (60%) compared with patients with inflammatory (28.6%) and fistulizing (41.2%) disease (P = 0.02). The prevalence of PAbs in Greek CD patients was found to be similar to that in previous reports. In contrast to these studies we found also increased prevalence of PAbs in UC patients. These findings suggest that PAbs should be considered as a specific marker for IBD rather than for CD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital, Heraklion, Greece. ktjohn@her.forthnet.gr
authors.forename: Ioannis E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Koutroubakis
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Drygiannakis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karmiris
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Drygiannakis
authors.forename: Sokratis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Makreas
authors.forename: Elias A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Kouroumalis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas / Q000276:immunology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers