Cellular immune reactions against common antigen, small intestine, and colon antigen in patients with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and cirrhosis of the liver.

Patients with ulcerative colitis showed in 71-93%, patients with cirrhosis of the liver in 64-91%, cellular immunity against Common Antigen (CA) and human fetal intestinal antigens as measured by the leucocyte migration test (LMIT). Patients with Crohn's disease exhibited cellular immune reactions to a lesser degree - from these only patients without immunosuppressive therapy differed significantly from normal controls (p less than 0.05). Approximately 30% of patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis had elevated antibody titers against intestinal antigens and CA. A high percentage of patients in both diseases showed a reciprocal relationship between cellular and humoral immunity. It was concluded that Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis can be separated in most cases using intestinal antigens and CA in the LMIT. The occurrence of cellular immunity against these antigens cannot be interpreted as being the only pathogenetic principle in these two diseases. It is also concluded that there appears to be only a weak immune tolerance against intestinal antigens. The high percentage of cellular immune reactions in patients with cirrhosis of the liver demonstrates that this group may have an impairment of the physiological elimination of antigens by the liver.