Granulocyte specific antinuclear antibodies in ulcerative colitis. Aid in differential diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

40 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 35 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) were studied for the occurrence of granulocyte specific (GS-) antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and organ-non-specific (ON-) ANA. The predominant immunoglobulin class of GS-ANA in UC was IgG, present in 25% of the patients, but only in 3% of the patients with CD (p less than 0.02). ON-ANA were are in both groups and did not allow discrimination between these. Both GS-ANA and ON-ANA lacked complement-fixing properties. No relation was found between the types or titres of IgG ANA and sex, age, duration, disease activity or localization in the two groups of patients. The significance of our serologic observations in relation to these disease parameters has to be determined n larger prospective studies.