In article <Pine.A32.3.91.950112160431.23385F-100000 at yu1.yu.edu>,
glickman at yu1.yu.edu (Lara Glickman) wrote:
> I would really appreciate it if you could tell me the details on a
> connection between a connective tissue disease (such as SLE) and Crohn's
> disease. Are there rheumatological manifestations of Crohn's? Are
> there any neurological manifestations?
> thank you very much please respond it's very important.
In rheumatoid arthritis the IgG antibodies show an abnormality in
glycosylation. Sugar chains are attached to the Fc end of the antibody
molecule at asparagine 297. These branched biantennary sugars normally
terminate in galactose but in RA patients the galactose is frequently
missing and the next sugar down the chain, N-acetylglucosamine becomes
terminal instead. This same abormality occurs in Crohn's disease.
Interestingly during pregnancy many patients with RA improve and in
parallel there sugars return to normal. The sugar abnormality seems to be
related to low activity of the galactosyl transferase enzyme in the
B-lymphocytes responsible for making antibodies.
Incidentally, does anyone know whether Crohn's disease patients improve if
they become pregnant?
Do let me know if you need refs. papers on this subject have been
published in both the USA and UK
Regards
Frank
St george's Hospital medical School
London
