Anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae Antibodies Status Is Associated with Oral Involvement and Disease Severity in Crohn Disease
Supported by a Wellcome Trust Programme Grant (072789/Z/03/Z) with additional support from the GI/Nutrition Research Fund, Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh Medical Faculty Fellowship funded R.K.R.
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
To determine anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA) status and its relation to disease phenotype in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Patients and Methods:
A total of 301 Scottish patients with early-onset IBD—197 Crohn disease (CD), 76 ulcerative colitis (UC), 28 indeterminate colitis (IC)—and 78 healthy control individuals were studied. ASCA status (IgA, IgG) was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. ASCA status was then analyzed in relation to CD phenotype.
Results:
Patients with CD had a higher prevalence of ASCA than patients with UC and healthy controls: 82/197 versus 12/76, odds ratio (OR) 3.80 (1.93–7.50) and 82/197 versus 6/78, OR 8.56 (3.55–20.62), respectively. Univariate analysis showed that positive ASCA status was associated with oral CD (17/25 vs 59/153, OR 3.39 [1.38–8.34]), perianal CD (39/77 vs 38/108, OR 1.89 [1.04–3.44]) and the presence of granulomata (63/132 vs 15/52, OR 2.25 [1.13–4.48]) and also with markers of disease severity: raised C-reactive protein (44/90 vs 12/49, OR 2.95[1.36–6.37]), hypoalbuminemia (44/85 vs 20/74, OR 2.28[1.19–4.37]), and surgery (27/49 vs 54/147, OR 2.11 [1.10–4.06]). From multivariate analysis, the presence of oral disease (adjusted P = 0.001, OR 22.22 [3.41–142.86]) and hypoalbuminemia (adjusted P = 0.01, OR 4.78 [1.40–16.39]) was found to be independently associated with ASCA status. No association was demonstrated between ASCA and IBD candidate genes.
Conclusions:
Patients with CD had a higher prevalence of ASCA than did other patients with IBD. ASCA status described patients with CD who had a specific phenotype, showing an association with markers of disease severity and oral CD involvement.
