52 - Anti-intestinal goblet cell antibodies

Abstract

Anti-intestinal goblet cell autoantibodies (GAB) are directed against a component of a mucin produced by intestinal goblet cells. They are detectable by indirect immunofluorescence on intestinal tissues or cancer cells which were differentiated into goblet cells or by immunoassays (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot) using purified mucin prepared from human intestinal tissue. GAB are strongly associated with the presence of inflammatory bowel disease. In most studies, GAB is found to occur in 15–28% of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), whereas the occurrence of GAB is very rare in sera from patients with other intestinal diseases (including Crohn's disease) as well as other organ specific or systemic diseases and healthy controls. GAB can also be found in rare cases of a variant form of autoimmune enteropathy with depletion of goblet cells. The specificity of GAB for UC depends on the autoantibody detection method used. The method of choice for determination of UC specific anti-intestinal GAB is the indirect immunofluorescence on human fetal intestinal tissue or on properly cultivated HT29-18-N2 colon carcinoma cells after differentiation into goblet cells.