title: The importance of peripheral immune cells in inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Ministry of Health, Yüksek Ihtisas Hospital, Ankara. alkimca@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alkim
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balci
authors.forename: Hüseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alkim
authors.forename: Ulkü
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dağli
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Parlak
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tezel
authors.forename: Aysel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ulker
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD