Identification of novel serological markers for the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is heterogeneous and comprised of two
main forms of chronic intestinal inflammation, Crohn’s disease (CD) and
Ulcerative colitis (UC). At present, several autoantibodies are implicated
in IBD with varying levels of sensitivity and specificity for CD and UC.
Consequently, using a proteomic approach, we attempted to identify novel
bacterial antigens that could potentially discriminate between CD, UC and
Indeterminate colitis (IC).
Established proteomic methods were used. Serum samples from CD (n
= 14), UC (n = 14), IC (n = 8) and Unaffected relative (C) (n = 8) patient
groups were obtained. Protein extracts derived from four commensal bacteria
(denoted B1, B2, B3 and B4) were probed by sera from each patient
group. In each Western blot, the presence of unique bands not present in
the unaffected relative control group were identified and subsequently categorised
as differential. The predictive and discriminatory potential of the
differential target antigens were also evaluated.
Significant differences in protein profiles between all disease groups and
controls were identified. These preliminary results have identified novel
markers that are highly sensitive and specific for the discrimination of
IBD.