title: The usefulness of angiotensin converting enzyme in the differential diagnosis of Crohn's disease and intestinal tuberculosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since the pathologic findings of Crohn's disease (CD) and intestinal tuberculosis (IT) overlap to a large degree, the development of other biomarkers will be of great help for making the differential diagnosis of these 2 diseases. The aim of the present study is to examine the clinical efficacy of using the tissue angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) assay in making the differential diagnosis between CD and IT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tissue specimens were obtained from 36 patients who were diagnosed with CD or IT by the colonoscopic biopsy, as well as by the clinical findings. The expression of tissue ACE was detected by immunohistochemical staining. The optimal cut-off value of the immunoreactive scoring (IRS) system we used to differentiate CD from IT was determined by analysis of the ROC curve and AUROC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Granuloma was present in 15 of 19 patients with CD (78.9%) and in 15 of 17 patients with IT (88.2%). ACE was present in the cytoplasm of the epithelioid cells in the granulomas from 13 of 15 patients with CD and in 14 of 15 patients with IT. The IRS scores of ACE were greater in the patients with CD than that of the patients with IT (8.07 +/- 4.38 vs. 4.13 +/- 2.47, respectively, p = 0.006). In differentiating CD from IT, the AUROC curve for the IRS of ACE was 0.767 with a sensitivity of 66.7%, a specificity of 93.3% and the cut-off point was 7.5.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our study suggest that the assessment of the tissue ACE expression can be helpful for making the differential diagnosis between CD and IT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Bundang CHA General Hospital, College of Medicine, Pochon CHA University, Seongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Chang-Il
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Pil Won
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Haeyoun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Gwang Il
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung Tae
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Kyung Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kwang Hyun
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Sung Pyo
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Seong Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Kyu Sung
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Rim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D003113:Colonoscopy; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014385:Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A