The importance of peripheral immune cells in inflammatory bowel disease.
OBJECTIVE
Inappropriate down regulation of an activated immune system is considered as the main pathogenetic mechanism in inflammatory bowel disease. Migration of circulating cells to a diseased intestine is considered as an important factor in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. We aimed to evaluate some features of circulating immune cells in inflammatory bowel disease.


METHODS
Twenty-two control, 29 Crohn's disease and 17 ulcerative colitis patients were studied. CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD11b, CD11c, CD25, CD45RA, CD45RO, CD54 and HLA DR on the surface of peripheral blood lymphocytes and CD11b, CD11c, CD45RA and CD45RO on the phagocytes were researched with two-color immunofluorescence flow cytometry.


RESULTS
The percentages of CD2+ and CD4+ lymphocytes were found significantly reduced in ulcerative colitis. CD3+ and CD8+ lymphocytes in inflammatory bowel disease were higher than in controls. CD45RA+ lymphocytes were found significantly decreased in ulcerative colitis and active Crohn's disease. CD45RO+ lymphocytes and CD45RO+, CD11b+ and CD11c+ phagocytes were significantly increased in Crohn's disease.


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that there were significant differences between ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in the expression of some important surface markers on the peripheral blood immune cells. It seems that circulating CD11b-CD11c and CD45RA-CD45RO expressing phagocytes are important in inflammatory bowel disease and may be useful in distinguishing Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis. These findings may give us some clues about the immunopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.
Alkim
Canan
C
Department of Gastroenterology, Ministry of Health, Yüksek Ihtisas Hospital, Ankara. alkimca@hotmail.com
Balci
Mustafa
M
Alkim
Hüseyin
H
Dağli
Ulkü
U
Parlak
Erkan
E
Tezel
Ahmet
A
Ulker
Aysel
A
D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D010586:Phagocytes / Q000378:metabolism
D015703:Antigens, CD