Peripheral differentials by Cytodiff flow cytometric system predict disease activity in Chinese patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed at evaluating whether leukocyte differentials could serve as effective biomarkers for disease activity in IBD.

METHODS: A total of 100 subjects were prospectively enrolled, including 36 patients with CD, 34 patients with UC, and 30 healthy controls (HC). Leukocyte differentials were determined by CytoDiff Flow Cytometry analysis.

RESULTS: Total neutrophil counts, monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (M/L), and CD16- monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (CD16- M/L) were significantly higher in active UC patients compared with quiescent UC patients and HC. A cut-off value of 0.25 in M/L exhibited the best overall accuracy of 82.4% with an AUC of 0.846 in differentiating active UC from quiescent UC. Total leukocyte counts were significantly decreased in active CD patients, while total monocyte counts and total CD16- monocyte counts were significantly increased in active CD patients compared with quiescent CD patients and HC. A cut-off value of 0.25 in CD16- M/L displayed the best AUC of 0.886 (overall accuracy of 86.1%) in differentiating active CD from quiescent CD.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that CD16- M/L could serve as promising biomarkers for distinguishing active disease from quiescent disease in both UC and CD. In addition, they could be used as supplements to other disease activity indicators, such as hsCRP and ESR.