New serological markers in pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The spectrum of serological markers associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rapidly growing. Due to frequently delayed or missed diagnoses, the application of non-invasive diagnostic tests for IBD, as well as differentiation between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), would be useful in the pediatric population. In addition, the combination of pancreatic autoantibodies and antibodies against Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies/perinuclear cytoplasmic antibody (pANCA) improved the sensitivity of serological markers in pediatric patients with CD and UC. Some studies suggested that age-associated differences in the patterns of antibodies may be present, particularly in the youngest children. In CD, most patients develop stricturing or perforating complications, and a significant number of patients undergo surgery during the disease course. Based on recent knowledge, serum antibodies are qualitatively and quantitatively associated with complicated CD behavior and CD-related surgery. Pediatric UC is characterized by extensive colitis and a high rate of colectomy. In patients with UC, high levels of anti-CBir1 and pANCA are associated with the development of pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. Thus, serologic markers for IBD can be applied to stratify IBD patients into more homogeneous subgroups with respect to disease progression. In conclusion, identification of patients at an increased risk of rapid disease progression is of great interest, as the application of early and more aggressive pharmaceutical intervention could have the potential to alter the natural history of IBD, and reduce complications and hospitalizations.

Peripheral Lymphocyte Subsets as a Marker of Parkinson's Disease in a Chinese Population

In this study, we conducted a clinical analysis of lymphocyte subtypes in 268 patients with Parkinson＇s disease （PD） to assess their clinical impact as a potential marker of advanced PD in Chinese patients. The participants comprised 268 sporadic PD patients and 268 healthy controls. The numbers of natural killer （NK） cells and CD3＋, CD3＋CD4＋, CD3＋CD8＋, and CD19＋ lympho- cytes from peripheral blood were determined by immunos- taining and flow cytometric analysis and the percentages of these CD＋ T cells were calculated. The ratio of regulatory T （Treg）/helper T 17 （Thl7） lymphocytes from 64 PD patients and 46 controls was determined by flow cytometric analysis. The results showed that the percentage of NK cells was higher in advanced PD patients than in controls （22.92% ± 10.08% versus 19.76% ±10.09%, P= 0.006）, while CD3＋ T cells are decreased （62.93% ±9.27% versus 65.75% ± 9.13%, P = 0.005）. The percentage of CD19＋ B cells in male patients was lower （P = 0.021） than in female patients, whereas NK cells were increased （P 〈 0.0001）. The scores on the Unified Parkinson＇s Disease Rating Scale （UPDRS） and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale in late-onset PD patients were significantly higher than those in earlyonset patients （P = 0.024 and P = 0.007, respectively）. The percentage of CD19＋ B cells in patients with UPDRS scores 〉24 was lower than in those with scores 〈24 （10.17% ± 4.19% versus 12.22% ± 5.39%, P = 0.009）. In addition, the Treg/Th17 ratio in female patients was higher than that in female controls （13.88 ± 6.32 versus 9.94 ±4.06, P = 0.042）. These results suggest that the percentages of NK cells, CD3＋ T cells, and CD19＋ B cells along with the Treg/Th17 ratio in peripheral blood may be used to predict the risk of PD in Chinese individuals and provide fresh avenues for novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic designs.