This study was designed to estimate
fecal lactoferrin (LF) concentration
and to evaluate its clinical applicability
as non-invasive modality for differentiation
between cases with ulcerative
colitis (UC) and irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS) and its relation to disease
activity. The study included 15
patients with UC and15 patients with
IBS and 15 healthy volunteers as controls.
All patients were evaluated clinically
for disease activity and underwent
colonoscopy for diagnosis assurance.
The study participants supplied
fresh fecal samples for qualitative and
quantitative assay for LF. There were
11 patients with active UC and 6 patients
with active IBS. There was a
significant (P<0.05) increase of fecal
LF in patients with UC (1118.21277.8
μg/gm feces) compared to controls
(1.35 10.48 μg/ gm feces) and IBS patients
(1.33 10.36 μg/ gm feces). Moreover,
there was a significant (P<0.05)
increase of fecal LF in patients with
active UC compared to those with inactive
UC, whereas non-significantly
(P>0.05) different in patients with active
IBS compared to those inactive IBS. Furthermore, there was a significant
correlation between fecal LF level
and score of severity of inflammation
in patients with UC (r=0.623, P=0.013),
whereas the correlation was nonsignificant
in patients with IBS,
(r=0.225, P>0.05). Qualitative determination
of LF could identify patients
with UC with sensitivity of 93.3%,
specificity and positive predictive value
of 100% and accuracy of diagnosis by
97.8% irrespective of the severity of
the disease. It could be concluded that
qualitative determination of fecal LF
could differentiate between patients
with UC and IBS with specificity 100%
and accuracy 97.8% and quantitative
estimation of its level could define
cases with active UC. |
