There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Extensively washed and ethanol-fixed colonic specimens from 10 patients with ulcerative
colitis, 3 patients with Crohn's disease of the colon, and 8 histologically normal
controls were examined by two-color immunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibody
to a neoepitope in the terminal complement complex combined with antiserum to factor
VIII-related antigen (von Willebrand's factor), C3c, C3d, or C5. An alternative combination
was monoclonal antibody to S-protein and antiserum to C9. Submucosal vessel walls
in both normal and diseased colon showed parallel positivity for C3d, C5, C9, terminal
complement complex, and S-protein, but the staining intensity and the proportion of
positive vessels were significantly higher in inflammatory bowel disease than in controls.
In addition, there was significantly more C3c reactivity associated with the terminal
complement complex-positive submucosal vessels of active inflammatory bowel disease
lesions than in histologically normal colon. Vascular C activation may therefore be
a continuous process in active inflammatory bowel disease lesions, presumably related
to the degree of inflammation and immune complex formation.