The efficacy of collagen fibers and fibrosis related proteins for discriminating intestinal tuberculosis from crohn's diseas

Abstract

Objective We compared the differences of collagen fibers and fibrosis related proteins in patients with intestinal tuberculosis (ITB) and Crohn's disease (CD) in order to find out a new clue to discriminate the two diseases. Methods Colonoscopic biopsies from healthy controls and patients diagnosed as ITB and CD in Zhujiang hospital were collected. The content of total collagen, type Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen were evaluated by masson's trichrome staining and double label immunofluorescence staining. Immunohistochemistry was used to detected the expression level of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and vimentin. Receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was established to evaluate the value of those indicators for discriminating ITB from CD. Results It was found that the content of total collagen, type Ⅰ collagen, type Ⅲ collagen were significantly higher in patients with ITB than those of CD (P 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed the content of total collagen, type Ⅰ collagen, type Ⅲ collagen were valuable in discriminating ITB from CD, whose sensitivity and specificity are 80.0% and 78.9%, 86.7% and 52.6%, 73.3% and 73.7%, respectively. However, vimentin showed no value in discriminating the two disease. Conclusion The content of total collagen, type Ⅰ collagen, type Ⅲ collagen were valuable in discriminating ITB from CD. Key words: Intestinal tuberculosis; Crohn's disease; Fibrosis; Transforming growth factor-β; Vimentin