DIAGNOSIS, STAGING AND MONITORING OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

摘要

A method of differentiating between active and inactive IBD in a gastrointestinal mucosa sample or a sample from a sentinel lymph node draining gastrointestinal mucosa comprises preparing a suspension of single cells from the sample, analyzing the suspension for expression of the inflammation activation marker CD69 on CD4+ T helper cells using directly labelled fluorescent DC69 antibody; comparing the number of T helper cells expressing DC69 in the sample with that obtained from a corresponding sample of a healthy person, a significantly increased level of T helper cells expressingCDD69 signifying the presence of active IBD and a less than significantly increased level of T helper cells signifying the presence of inactive IBD. Also disclosed are methods of differentiating between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), of detecting UC and CD, and of determining the susceptibility of an IBD patient to steroid treatment.