title: Disturbances in apoptosis of lamina propria lymphocytes in Crohn's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to assess the potential mechanisms providing resistance to apoptosis of lamina propria lymphocytes (LPL) directlyin intestinal tissues from patients with Crohn's disease (CD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty CD patients were enrolled in the study. The control group consisted of healthy patients who underwent surveillance colonoscopy after endoscopic polypectomy. Each CD patient underwent colonoscopy with tissue sampling from inflamed areas of the colon with the assessment of immunohistochemical expression of active caspase 3, Fas, tumour necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1), Bcl-2, Bax, CD4 and CD8. This was compared with healthy intestinal mucosa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of active caspase 3 was significantly lower in LPL in CD (0.4 ±0.3 vs. 2.8 ±1.5; p = 0.0002). A statistically significant increase of CD4 and CD8 positive cells was noted in CD (2.3 ±0.5 vs. 1.2 ±0.2, p < 0.0001; 2.1 ±0.3 vs. 1.1 ±0.3, p < 0.0001, respectively). It was associated with a significant increase of the Bcl-2 (6.7 ±2.7 vs. 2.9 ±0.8; p < 0.0001) and a decrease of the Bax protein expression (3.4 ±2.1 vs. 5.5 ±1.8; p < 0.0001) in CD. The expression of Fas and TNFR1 did not differ between the study groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LPL in CD are resistant to apoptosis when compared with physiological conditions. This is probably due to an imbalance in Bcl-2 family proteins. TNFR1-related pathway is probably not involved in disturbances of LPL apoptosis in CD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Human Nutrition and Internal Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eder
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Human Nutrition and Internal Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Łykowska-Szuber
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Human Nutrition and Internal Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krela-Kaźmierczak
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Human Nutrition and Internal Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Kamila
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stawczyk-Eder
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pathomorphology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwanik
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pathomorphology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Przemysław
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Majewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Karolina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sterzyńska
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zabel
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Human Nutrition and Internal Diseases, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Linke
keywords: Bcl-2 family proteins; Crohn's disease; caspase 3; lamina propria lymphocytes