Lipoprotein (a), thrombophilia and inflammatory bowel disease

Thrombophilia in inflammatory bowel disease may be due to several risk factors, such as a dysbalanced haemostasis with a hypercoagulative state, thrombocytosis, hyperfibrinogenaemia and hyperhomocysteinaemia. In addition, increased concentrations of lipoprotein (a), a modified form of low-density lipoprotein particles, have been associated with a higher risk of thrombotic vascular disease, probably due to inhibition of (local and endothelial) fibrinolysis. The mechanisms regulating the plasma concentration of lipoprotein (a) have not yet been elucidated completely, but genetic factors are involved. Dietary factors seem to play a minor role. In this issue of the journal, Koutroubakis et al. report that lipoprotein (a) concentration is elevated in patients with Crohn's disease, but not in patients with ulcerative colitis. Several other (apo)lipoproteins have a different pattern in patients with inflammatory bowel disease than in a control population of healthy subjects from Crete. These findings add up to the multifactorial nature of thrombophilia in inflammatory bowel disease patients, especially in patients with Crohn's disease, and give rise to speculations about the clinical significance of the observed different lipoprotein metabolism in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.