Simple, inexpensive and objective tools for the assessment of mucosal inflammation: fecal markers
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - 09:42
in Health & Medicine
UC and CD, the two major forms of IBD are chronic, idiopathic inflammatory conditions of the gut with a typically relapsing and remitting course. A prominent feature in mucosal biopsies from patients with active IBD is infiltration by neutrophil granulocytes. Moreover, the number of eosinophil granulocytes is also increased in IBD. Upon activation, neutrophils release Calprotectin and MPO, two major neutrophil proteins, while eosinophils release the protein, EPX. Previous studies have shown that fecal markers may be used to differentiate IBD from functional gastrointestinal disorders, but the usefulness of these markers in monitoring therapy of patients with active relapse of IBD needs further evaluation.