Background: Investigation of anti-colon antibodies may be simplified if a sensitive method and homogeneous source of antigen were available.
Aims: To examine the anti-colon antibody response using human colonic carcinoma cell lines as antigen.
Subjects: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease and other gastrointestinal disorders and healthy controls were studied.
Methods: Comparative enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were performed 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 western blot analysis.
Results: Sera demonstrated immunoreactivity against each of the cell lines, but different epitopes were recognised. Applying whole Caco-2 cells as antigen 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 studying the anti-colon antibody response. This response is non-specific, being directed against multiple antigens, and is likely to be an epiphenomenon of inflammatory bowel disease, more so for ulcerative colitis than Crohn's disease.