Expression of calprotectin in colon mucosa and fecal of patients with ulcerative colitis

To investigate the correlation between the disease activity of ulcerative colitis (UC) and the immunohistochemical distribution of calprotectin in colon mucosa,as well as the levels of calprotectin in fecal.Monoclonal antibody against calprotectin was used to investigate the distribution of these proteins in colon mucosa from 42 patients with ulcerative colitis and 20 healthy controls. ELISA assay was used to measure the concentrations of calprotectin in fecal. The disease activity of UC was determined by Truelove-Witts histological criteria.Calprotectin was demonstrated in the majority of granulocytes and macrophages in colon mucosa of patients with active UC, while negative in patients with unactive UC and healthy controls. A strong calprotectin immunoreactivity was presented in ulcerative and erosion lesions in the colon. The concentration of calprotectin was significantly higher in patients with active UC than that with unactive UC and healthy controls (P<0.01). Both the distribution of calprotectin in colon mucosa and the levels of calprotectin in fecal in UC were significantly correlated with the histological grades respectively (r=0.89, P=0.000 1;r=0.849, P<0.01), and the two parameters were correlated well (r=0.90, P=0.000 7).We suggest that calprotecin in fecal is mostly derived from the colon mucosa in active UC. The level of in fecal calprotectin fecal accurately reflects the degree of disease activity of UC. The morphological RESULTS confirm the findings of enhanced fecal calprotectin levels in patients with active UC.PubMed02179-823