Background-Investigation of anti-colon antibodies may be simplified if a se
nsitive method and homogeneous source of antigen were available.
Aims-To examine the anti-colon antibody response using human colonic carcin
oma cell lines as antigen. Subjects-Patients with inflammatory bowel diseas
e and other gastrointestinal disorders and healthy controls were studied.
Methods-Comparative enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were perfor
med to assess the value of whole Caco-2, HT-29, and LS-180 cells as antigen
. The antigenic determinants of the immune response were characterised by w
estern blot analysis.
Results-Sera demonstrated immunoreactivity against each of the cell lines,
but different epitopes were recognised. applying whole Caco-2 cells as anti
gen in an ELISA, the prevalence of anti-colon antibodies was significantly
greater in patients with ulcerative colitis (36%) than Crohn's disease (13%
), other gastrointestinal disorders (13%) and healthy controls (0) (p<0.05)
. The immune response was not: associated with one predominant antigen.
Conclusions-Fixed whole cell ELISA is a simple and feasible method for stud
ying the anti-colon antibody response. This response is non-specific, being
directed against multiple antigens, and is likely to be an epiphenomenon o
f inflammatory bowel disease, more so for ulcerative colitis than Crohn's d
isease.