Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease in which the colonic mucosa is infiltrated with plasma cells producing IgG autoantibodies. It is not known whether this represents a local mucosal response which has switched to IgG or a peripheral response which may have been initiated by peripheral antigen which homed to the colonic mucosa. The clonal distribution of ...

The main aim of the present study was to measure hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in serum and colonic mucosa of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and to analyze its role in the pathogenesis, disease activity and severity of UC. A total of 47 UC patients and 13 UC in remission patients were recruited for the present study. Ten healthy subjects were also included to serve as controls. HIF-1α ...

Recent evidence has linked intestinal permeability to mucosal inflammation, but molecular studies are lacking. Candidate regulatory molecules localized within the tight junction (TJ) include Junctional Adhesion Molecule (JAM-A), which has been implicated in the regulation of barrier function and leukocyte migration. Thus, we analyzed the intestinal mucosa of JAM-A-deficient (JAM-A(-/-)) mice fo...

The down-regulated in adenoma (DRA) gene was originally identified as a gene that was down-regulated in colon tumors. It encodes a protein with anion transporter function that is expressed predominantly in the mucosa of the lower gastrointestinal tract. In this study, expression of DRA and its cellular distribution have been investigated in a series of benign adenomatous polyps and malignant co...

Curcumin, the main constituent of turmeric, is suspected to possess cancer chemopreventive properties. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters have been reported, but few data exist describing whether methodologies are suitably robust for curcuminoid detection in colonic biopsy specimens. Information on the acceptability of prolonged administration of daily curcumin is not available. Thi...

Intestinal epithelial and mononuclear cells were isolated from normal colonic mucosa and from intestinal mucosa of inflammatory bowel disease patients. Prostanoid synthesis by primary cultures of intestinal mononuclear cells were four to six fold higher than its synthesis by primary cultures of epithelial cells. Prostaglandin E2, prostacyclin and thromboxane A2 synthesis by cultured mononuclear...

A man age 59 years with ulcerative colitis–associated primary sclerosing cholangitis presented to the clinic for his annual colonoscopy with surveillance biopsies. The patient was receiving oral mesalamine, and the primary sclerosing cholangitis was in clinical remission at that time. The patient did not have a history of colonic dysplasia, but adenomatous colonic polyps were diagnosed the prev...

The mechanisms underlying distension-evoked peristalsis in the colon are incompletely understood. It is well known that, following colonic distension, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is released from enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the intestinal mucosa. It is also known that exogenous 5-HT can stimulate peristalsis. These observations have led some investigators to propose that endogenous 5-HT relea...

Colorectal tissue biopsies were obtained from 110 patients diagnosed with primary colorectal carcinoma (tumor and normal colonic mucosa samples), 20 patients diagnosed with benign colorectal disease, and 31 healthy donors. The level of expression of tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG-72) was quantitatively measured in each sample using a double-determinant RIA with monoclonal antibodies B72....

BACKGROUND During clinical practice, we noticed that some patients with both ulcerative colitis (UC) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) showed amelioration of UC after treatment of CRS. This study was designed to identify a possible association between CRS and UC. METHODS Thirty-two patients with both CRS and UC received treatment with functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) for CRS. Clinica...