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Combined Foxp3 and IgG4 staining reveal distinct subsets of inflammatory bowel disease
Author(s) -
Seidman Michael A,
Bellizzi Andrew M
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.645.5
Subject(s) - inflammatory bowel disease , ulcerative colitis , foxp3 , medicine , disease , crohn's disease , staining , colitis , immunology , pathology , gastroenterology , immune system
The two disease model in idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), i.e. ulcerative colitis (UC) vs. Crohn's disease (CD), insufficiently captures the diseases' genetic and phenotypic diversity. We have utilized immunohistochemical staining for two markers of “regulatory” immune cells, IgG4 and FoxP3, to better characterize IBD, hoping to improve diagnosis, prognostication, and therapy. These stains were examined in cases of CD (n=11), UC (n=11), and demographically equivalent disease‐free patients (n=22). Biopsies taken from sites throughout the colon at all levels of disease activity were evaluated. The maximal number of cells staining per high power field (hpf) was scored. Neither IgG4 nor FoxP3 counts correlated with diagnosis (p>;0.05). Both correlated with disease activity (both p≈0.01). Neither showed correlation with age, gender, or anatomic site. Generalized linear models did not determine IgG4 or FoxP3 counts to be good predictors of diagnosis, even when corrected for disease activity. However, supervised hierarchical clustering revealed that the combination of the two stains identified clinically meaningful subsets of disease (Figure 1). These data provide insight into IBD that will help guide future understanding and therapies, going beyond the currently prevailing two disease paradigm. Research was supported entirely by internal (i.e. departmental) funds.