IgA autoreactivity: a feature common to inflammatory bowel and connective tissue diseases

The immunopathogenic mechanisms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are not yet fully established. The aim of this study was to determine the profile and magnitude of IgA and IgG autoantibodies in IBD patients. The autoantigen profile defined by IgA and IgG antibodies from 24 IBD (14 Crohn's disease CD], 10 ulcerative colitis UC]), three coeliac, 12 connective tissue disease (CTD) patients and 10 healthy individuals was studied in human cellular extracts by Western blotting. The magnitude of the IgA and IgG1-4 subclass responses was measured by ELISA. IBD patients could not be distinguished from healthy individuals on the basis of IgG autoantibodies to Western blotted proteins. IgG subclass analysis indicated no clear bias towards Th1 or Th2 immune responses in IBD or CTD. In accordance with previous work, we found that IgA autoreactivity was strongest in coeliac disease patients. Unexpectedly, IBD as well as CTD patients exhibited strong IgA autoantibody reactivities to components of similar molecular weights (16-80 kD) in intestinal and non-intestinal epithelial cell lines. Our data indicate immunopathogenic similarities between IBD and CTD.