Background: Literature search referring to the role of haemostasis disturbances in pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis in children revealed considerable discrepancies in the obtained findings and some controversies in their interpretation. The aim of the study was the assessment of urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA) and urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor (u-PAR) in children with ulcerative colitis.
Material and methods: 22 children with ulcerative colitis were included in our investigation, there were 7 girls and 15 boys whose mean age was 15.55 (+/-3.0) years. The reference group was made up of 22 children of similar age and sex suffering from celiac disease during the period of full compensation. Blood was drawn in the morning from the cubital vein with minimal stasis into a tube containing 3.2% sodium citrate at the ratio of 1:10. The levels of u-PA and u-PAR (of the American Diagnostical Company) were measured with ELISA.
Results: The children with ulcerative colitis did not reveal any essential difference in concentration of u-PA and u-PAR with regard to the reference group. In the group of patients over the remission period, concentrations of u-PA and u-PAR were similar to the group of children in the acute period. In the course of ulcerative colitis no increased concentrations of u-PA:Ag and u-PAR in the blood of sick children were confirmed.
Conclusions: It seems probable that the inflammatory process in colon mucosa at the time of the study did not cause any neoplastic change in mucosal cells in these children in the period of aggravation.