Increased CD8+ intraepithelial lymphocyte infiltration and reduced surface area to volume ratio in the duodenum of patients with ulcerative colitis.

Objective: Recent evidence suggests the involvement of the upper gastrointestinal tract in ulcerative colitis (UC). By conducting a prospective controlled study, we explored the immunological abnormalities in the duodenal mucosa of UC patients.

Methods: Duodenal and colonic biopsies were collected from 24 corticosteroid-free UC patients and 21 controls.

Prevalence and pathogenesis of anemia in inflammatory bowel disease. Influence of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha treatment.

Background: Anemia is a common complication of inflammatory bowel disease, but its epidemiology may be changing due to earlier diagnosis and improved treatments. We investigated the prevalence and pathogenesis of anemia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Design And Methods: In a cross-sectional study 263 out-patients with inflammatory bowel disease (165 with Crohn's disease, 98 with ulcerative colitis) were investigated.

Splenic function and IgM-memory B cells in Crohn's disease patients treated with infliximab.

Background: Under experimental chronic inflammation, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha plays a role in damaging spleen marginal zone. This latter has a crucial function in mounting B cell-dependent immune responses against infections by encapsulated bacteria. In Crohn's disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory disorder where TNF-alpha is centrally involved, impaired splenic function may increase the susceptibility to bacterial infections.

Splenic hypofunction and the spectrum of autoimmune and malignant complications in celiac disease.

Background & Aims: We investigated the prevalence of functional hyposplenism in autoimmune disorder (AID)-associated and complicated celiac disease (CD). In addition, because the association between hyposplenism and overwhelming infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in patients with CD is well known, we investigated whether immunoglobulin (Ig)M memory B cells, which are responsible for protection against infections by encapsulated bacteria and require the spleen for their generation and/or survival, mirror the reduced splenic function in CD.

Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 73 adult CD patients (27 with AID, 36 without AID, and 10 with CD-related complications including enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma, refractory sprue, and ulcerative jejunoileitis).

Depletion of immunoglobulin M memory B cells is associated with splenic hypofunction in inflammatory bowel disease.

Objectives: IgM memory B cells that are responsible for the protection against infections by encapsulated bacteria, require the spleen for their generation and/or survival. Since the association between inflammatory bowel disease and functional hyposplenism is well described, our aim was to verify whether IgM memory B cells mirror the reduced splenic function in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients.

Methods: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 32 Crohn's disease and 29 ulcerative colitis patients, 33 healthy controls, and 27 splenectomized patients.

Serum bFGF and VEGF correlate respectively with bowel wall thickness and intramural blood flow in Crohn's disease.

Serum levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)--two factors known to promote tissue repair, fibroblast proliferation, and angiogenesis--were measured in Crohn's disease patients and correlated with bowel wall thickness (BWT), measured by conventional grey scale ultrasonography, and with the ileal intramural vessel flow, measured by contrast-enhanced color Doppler imaging. Serum samples were obtained from 25 patients with active Crohn's disease and 22 healthy volunteers, all sex- and age-matched. Serum bFGF and VEGF levels were measured by ELISA assay.