ANCA prevalence in quiescent UC vs CD

What is known

• P-ANCAs show a strong positive association with ulcerative colitis, prompting study of whether they persist without active inflammation. ¹
• In patients with long-term remission, ANCA titre appears to decrease over time and may be undetectable by conventional assays after years of complete remission. ¹
• ANCAs are detectable in a large proportion of ulcerative colitis but only a limited proportion of Crohn's disease, and persist after total colectomy independent of disease activity. ²

What is unknown / caveats

• Colonic Crohn's disease ANCA frequency overlapped with ulcerative colitis, limiting discrimination
• Excerpts are older case-control/original studies with small samples
• The excerpts give a directional comparison but few head-to-head prevalence figures for quiescent disease specifically.

References

1. Lindgren S, Florén CH, Lindhagen T, Starck M, Stewenius J, Nässberger L. Low prevalence of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in ulcerative colitis patients with long-term remission. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1995;7(6):563-8. PMID: 7552641.

2. Castellino F, Rosina F, Bansi DS, Bauducci M, Touscoz GA, Giorda L, Borghesio E, Bessone MP, Astegiano M, Musso A. Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in inflammatory bowel disease: do they recognize different subsets of a heterogeneous disease?. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 1995;7(9):859-64. PMID: 8574718.

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Draft, generated by the IBDology RAG and not yet clinician-reviewed. Answers are grounded in the retrieved literature listed above; a high faithfulness score means the answer matches its sources, not that the sources are correct.