Authors: Michihiro Yukawa Masahiro Iizuka Yasuo Horie Kazuo Yoneyama Tomoyuki Shirasaka Hiroaki Itou Masafumi Komatsu Tsuneo Fukushima Sumio Watanabe
Publish Date: 2001/10/31
Volume: 17, Issue: 2, Pages: 70-76
Abstract
Background and aims Recent studies suggest that Fasmediated apoptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease IBD This study was conducted to clarify whether soluble forms of Fas sFas and Fas ligand sFasL are concerned with inflammation in IBD Methods and patients Concentration of serum sFas and sFasL was measured by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay in 10 patients with ulcerative colitis UC 10 with Crohns disease CD in both active and remission stages and 20 controls Expression of Fas and sFas in colonic mucosa was examined by western blot Distribution of Fas and FasL in colonic mucosa was examined by immunohistochemistry in 20 UC 20 CD and 10 nonIBD colitis patients and in 10 controls Apoptotic cells were examined by TUNEL Results Concentration of systemic sFas was significantly lower in active UC than controls The number of FasLcontaining cells was significantly higher in active UC than in remission UC nonIBD colitis and controls Apoptotic cells were increased in active UC Conclusions Our results demonstrate that systemic and local Fasmediated apoptosis is promoted in UC which might be involved in the pathogenesis in UC
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