Proliferative and antigenic properties of rectal cells in patients with chronic ulcerative colitis

Two markers related to preneoplasia were studied simultaneously in ulcerative colitis (UC). The renewal of the rectal epithelial cells together with expression of second-trimester fetal antigen (STFA) were evaluated in nine patients with UC and four healthy subjects. Endoscopic biopsies were incubated with tritiated thymidine. Cell renewal was studied with microautoradiography, and the antigenic properties of the cells were evaluated by indirect immunofluorescence. At the time of the study, all the UC patients were in a mildly active or in a quiescent stage of the disease; their biopsies did not show dysplastic or neoplastic changes in epithelial cells. STFA was expressed in five UC patients. The analysis of cell renewal in this group revealed a shift of the proliferative compartment towards the luminal surface of the colonic crypts. By contrast, the patient group with STFA-negative reactions showed a pattern of cell proliferation similar to that observed in the controls. These results suggest that the expression of STFA in colonic mucosa is associated with an expansion of the epithelial stem cell population or with arrested cell differentiation, and it may represent a phenotypic marker of proneness of the mucosa toward neoplastic development.