Anticarbohydrate antibodies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Evaluating the prevalence of antichitobioside carbohydrate antibody (ACCA), antilaminaribioside carbohydrate antibodies (ALCA), antimannobioside carbohydrate antibodies (AMCA) and anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA), in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Subjects and methods: 268 serum samples were used; 115 Crohn's disease (CD), 83 ulcerative colitis, and 70 healthy control samples. All samples were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the following four anticarbohydrate antibodies: ACCA, ALCA, AMCA, and ASCA. Results: In patients with Crohn's disease the prevalence of the anticarbohydrate antibodies was: ASCA 69%, AMCA 32%, ACCA 28% and ALCA 24% with the highest prevalence being for ASCA (P-value<0.0001) while in patients with ulcerative colitis the prevalence was: ACCA 46%, AMCA 35%, ALCA 23% and ASCA 15% with the highest prevalence being for ACCA (P-value<0.001). Conclusion: Anticarbohydrate antibodies are significantly present in patients with IBD. The use of a panel of anticarbohydrate antibodies may provide additional help in distinguishing IBD from non-IBD disease patterns and narrow the range of differential diagnosis in these patients.