title: Characterization of changes in serum anti-glycan antibodies in Crohn's disease--a longitudinal analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anti-glycan antibodies are a promising tool for differential diagnosis and disease stratification of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). We longitudinally assessed level and status changes of anti-glycan antibodies over time in individual CD patients as well as determinants of this phenomenon.
  
  
  METHODS
  859 serum samples derived from a cohort of 253 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients (207 CD, 46 ulcerative colitis (UC)) were tested for the presence of anti-laminarin (Anti-L), anti-chitin (Anti-C), anti-chitobioside (ACCA), anti-laminaribioside (ALCA), anti-mannobioside (AMCA) and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae (gASCA) antibodies by ELISA. All patients had at least two and up to eleven serum samples taken during the disease course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median follow-up time for CD was 17.4 months (Interquartile range (IQR) 8.0, 31.6 months) and for UC 10.9 months (IQR 4.9, 21.0 months). In a subgroup of CD subjects marked changes in the overall immune response (quartile sum score) and levels of individual markers were observed over time. The marker status (positive versus negative) remained widely stable. Neither clinical phenotype nor NOD2 genotype was associated with the observed fluctuations. In a longitudinal analysis neither changes in disease activity nor CD behavior led to alterations in the levels of the glycan markers. The ability of the panel to discriminate CD from UC or its association with CD phenotypes remained stable during follow-up. In the serum of UC patients neither significant level nor status changes were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the levels of anti-glycan antibodies fluctuate in a subgroup of CD patients the antibody status is widely stable over time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. florian.rieder@t-online.de
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rieder
authors.forename: Rocio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franke
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schleder
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dirmeier
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schirbel
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosenstiel
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dotan
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rogler
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Klebl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D002686:Chitin / Q000276:immunology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005936:Glucans; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008351:Mannans / Q000276:immunology*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D004187:Disaccharides; D005936:Glucans; D008351:Mannans; D011134:Polysaccharides; D002686:Chitin; C014647:mannobiose; C032438:chitobiose; C008247:laminaran