Abstract

Crohn's disease is an immunoregulatory disorder of the intestine that can be associated with systemic manifestations. This study analysed B-cell differentiation antigens to identify B-cell subpopulations unique to patients with Crohn's disease. CD45 isoform expression was used as an indicator of B-cell differentiation stage. This work shows that B-cells in blood and gut of patients with Crohn's disease are at an advanced stage of differentiation based on their unusual presentation of transitional (RA+ RO+) and late stage (RO+)CD45 isoforms on lamina propria lymphocytes, whereas normal intestinal lamina propria lymphocytes B-cells express primarily CD45RA. Crohn's disease patients had heightened expression of the CD45RO isoform on CD19+ lamina propria lymphocytes, and was found in a statistically significant proportion of Crohn's peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) where CD19+ PBMC had an expression pattern affecting an unexpectedly high proportion of these differentiated or late stage CD45RO+ B-cells. The expression of CD45RO varied greatly among CD19+ PBMC from patients with Crohn's disease, so multiple regression analysis was performed between these CD45 isoforms and several clinical parameters. After grouping high and low CD45RO expression on CD19+ B-cells, a significant statistical difference was found between high Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) and low CDAI Crohn's disease patients respectively.