ABSTRACT

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in Crohn's Disease Is Serologically Positive

Saleh Naser,¹ Ira Shafran,¹ Fouad El-Zaatari^2
1Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology and Center for Discovery of Drugs and Diagnostics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816; ²Inflammatory Bowel Disease Laboratory, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

CONCLUSIONS:These data confirm that there is a statistically significant difference in reactivity between Crohn's disease-positive serum samples and serum samples from controls (P < 0.001). This ultimately adds more evidence to strengthen the proposed association of Mycobacteria with Crohn's disease. The data also suggest that there is great potential for using M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis recombinant antigens (p35 and p36) individually or combined in a serologic test for diagnosis and possibly in vaccine development.

PARA's SUMMARY

RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT MORE CROHN'S PATIENTS TESTED POSITIVE FOR MAP THAN DID CONTROLS. YET ANOTHER PIECE OF EVIDENCE TO IMPLICATE MAP AS A CAUSE OF CROHN'S.