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©2013 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2013; 19(45): 8335-8341
Published online Dec 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i45.8335
Published online Dec 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i45.8335
Clinical significance of serum procalcitonin in patients with ulcerative colitis
Shigeo Koido, Toshifumi Ohkusa, Kazuki Takakura, Shunichi Odahara, Shintaro Tsukinaga, Toyokazu Yukawa, Jimi Mitobe, Mikio Kajihara, Kan Uchiyama, Hiroshi Arakawa, Hisao Tajiri, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Chiba 277-8567, Japan
Author contributions: Koido S, Ohkusa T and Tajiri H designed the research; Takakura K, Odahara S, Tsukinaga S, Yukawa T, Mitobe J, Kajihara M, Uchiyama K and Arakawa H performed the research and analyzed the data; Koido S wrote the paper.
Supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, No. 23501289
Correspondence to: Shigeo Koido, MD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, 163-1 Kashiwa-shita, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8567, Japan. shigeo_koido@jikei.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-4-71641111 Fax: +81-4-71633488
Received: August 5, 2013
Revised: September 13, 2013
Accepted: September 16, 2013
Published online: December 7, 2013
Revised: September 13, 2013
Accepted: September 16, 2013
Published online: December 7, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: To investigate the association of procalcitonin (PCT) with ulcerative colitis (UC) activity, we analyzed 18 UC patients (7 with severe and 11 with mild-to-moderate UC) and 11 healthy volunteers. Serum PCT levels in severe UC patients were significantly higher than in mild-to-moderate UC patients and healthy volunteers. Moreover, patients with a Mayo endoscopic subscore of 3 points displayed significantly increased serum PCT levels compared with patients with a subscore of 2 points. However, serum C-reactive protein was not associated with disease activity or the Mayo endoscopic score. Thus, serum PCT may be a good biomarker for assessing UC activity.