title: Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in ulcerative colitis, and its relation with disease activity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ulcerative colitis an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronically idiopathic immune related that associates with extraintestinal manifestations such as arthritis. Despite of the highly specificity of anticyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies for rheumatoid arthritis, their role in IBD remains unclear. There are only a few studies on the prevalence of anti-CCP antibodies in patients with IBD. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of anti- CCP antibodies in ulcerative colitis and to investigate possible associations with their clinical and laboratory characteristics Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 93 consecutive patients with ulcerative colitis referred to gastroenterology clinics in Razi referral hospital of Rasht, Iran, from September 2010 to September 2011. Rheumatologic examination, demographic data and clinical presentation of patients were recorded on specially prepared data sheets. Blood sample was collected for assessment of anti-CCP and other laboratory tests. Data were analyzed by the Chi square test, Fisher Exact test and student t test, using the SPSS 20 software for Windows, and P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 93 patients, anti-CCP antibodies detected in 10.8% of cases (CI 95%: 4.5-17.1%). There were a significant relation between the prevalence of anti CCP positivity and aphthous ulcers and ocular manifestations whereas other parameters were not significantly related.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anti CCP may have a possible role in some ulcerative colitis manifestations but there was no association between the presence of these antibodies and activity or extension of inflammatory colitis. We suggest other studies especially molecular studies to investigate other aspects of these antibodies in IBD patients.
authors.affiliation: 1. Associate Professor of Gastroenterology, Gastroenterology and Liver Disease Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. afshinshafaghi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shafaghi
authors.affiliation: 2. Professor of Gastroenterology, Gastroenterology and Liver Disease Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Ghanaie@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Fariborz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mansour-Ghanaei
authors.affiliation: 3. Medical student, Student Research Committee, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. drmaryam.rostamnejad@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rostamnejad
authors.affiliation: 4. Medical student, Student Research Committee, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. alireza.am427@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amir Maafi
authors.affiliation: 5. Assistant Professor of Rheumatology, Rheumatology ward, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. drasghar.hajiabbasi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Asghar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haji-Abbasi
authors.affiliation: 6. Professor of Gastroenterology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Imam Khomeini General Hospital, Tehran, Iran. froutan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Froutan
keywords: Anti-CCP; Extra-intestinal manifestation; Inflammatory bowel disease; Ulcerative colitis