Antiglycan Antibodies in Greek Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Antiglycan antibodies have recently been reported to be associated with Crohn's disease (CD). These antibodies include anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae mannan antibodies (ASCA), anti-laminariobioside carbohydrate antibodies (ALCA), anti-chitobioside carbohydrate antibodies (ACCA), and anti-mannobioside carbohydrate antibodies (AMCA). The aim of this study was to evaluate their diagnostic accuracy in Greek patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Serum was collected from 191 patients with IBD (85 with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 106 with CD), 29 cases with other causes of intestinal inflammation and 96 healthy controls. Antiglycan antibodies were measured using commercially available enzyme immunoassays. Higher levels of antiglycan antibodies were detected in patients with CD compared to patients with UC and controls. Although all types of antiglycan antibodies had a high specificity for diagnosing CD, their sensitivity was rather low, with best results obtained with ASCA and ALCA (41.5 and 52.8%, respectively). Increased levels of ASCA and ALCA were associated with stricturing and penetrating disease phenotype, and the need for surgery (p < 0.05). Antiglycan antibodies in Greek IBD patients are significantly associated with CD, and especially to phenotypes of complicated disease, with ASCA and ALCA exhibiting the highest sensitivity.