Fecal lactoferrin accurately reflects mucosal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease

Table 1 Patient characteristics, n (%)

Characteristics		UC (n = 57)	CD (n = 131)
Gender	Female	27 (47)	83 (63)
	Male	30 (53)	48 (37)
Disease duration (yr)	0-5	37 (65)	72 (55)
	6 to 10	9 (16)	16 (12)
	> 10	11 (19)	43 (33)
Smoking	Current	1 (2)	32 (25)
	Former	29 (51)	37 (28)
	Never	27 (47)	62 (47)
Biomarkers	Lactoferrin μg/g	448 (0; 8467)	95 (0; 9351)
Median (min; max)	CRP mg/dL	0.54 (0.4; 17.3)	1.15 (0.4; 21.1)
	WBC (K/μL)	8.2 (4.0; 29.9)	7.5 (3.6; 26.4)
Montreal age (yr)	A1 < 16	0 (0)	4 (3)
	A2 17-40	29 (51)	47 (36)
	A3 > 40	28 (49)	80 (61)
Montreal class UC	E1 proctitis	4 (7)
	E2 distal	17 (30)
	E3 extensive	36 (63)
Disease activity by DAI	Mild (1)	11 (19)
	Moderate (2)	27 (48)
	Severe (3)	19 (33)
Montreal class CD	L1 ileal		45 (34)
	L2 colonic		57 (44)
	L3 ileocolonic		29 (22)
	L4 isolated upper		0 (0)
	B1 nonstricturing		95 (73)
	B2 stricturing		24 (18)
	B3 penetrating		12 (9)
	P perianal		4 (3)
Disease activity by SES-CD	Inactive (0-2)		9 (10)
	Mild (3-6)		20 (22)
	Moderate (7-15)		26 (28)
	Severe (≥ 16)		37 (40)

Table 2 Correlation of Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn’s disease and Disease Activity Index and biomarkers

Disease severity score	Disease marker	Spearman correlation
SES-CD	FL	0.563b
	CRP	0.433b
	WBC	0.152
DAI	FL	0.330a
	CRP	0.410b
	WBC	0.099

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01. DAI: Disease Activity Index; SES-CD: Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn’s disease; WBC: White blood cell; CRP: C-reactive protein; FL: Fecal lactoferrin.

Table 3 Spearman correlation of fecal lactoferrin with Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn’s disease and Disease Activity Index according to timing of tests

Endoscopic scores	Analysis	FL pre colonoscopy	FL post colonoscopy
SES-CD	Correlation Coefficient	0.596b	0.285
	N	58	27
DAI	Correlation Coefficient	0.402a	0.054
	N	38	16

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01. DAI: Disease Activity Index; SES-CD: Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn’s disease; FL: Fecal lactoferrin.

Table 4 Median fecal lactoferrin vs extent of colonic disease

Number of inflamed colon segments	Number of patients	Median FL (µg/g)
0-1	37	8
2-3	42	91.5
4-5	21	302
6-7	43	789

Kruskal Wallis test P < 0.001. FL: Fecal lactoferrin.