Neutrophil autoantibodies as disease markers for ulcerative colitis

The detection of a distinct subset of serum neutrophil autoantibodies in UC is simple and reproducible. While such autoantibodies probably have no direct role in mediating tissue damage, they may reflect the underlying immunologic disturbance that leads to the disease. As such, they may be important disease markers and appear to be particularly promising in studies of genetic susceptibility. Future identification of the antigen(s) recognized by these UC-linked autoantibodies will facilitate the development of improved assay systems and the study of the immunological basis for their occurrence. © 1991 Humana Press Inc.