Faecal secretogranin and chromogranin levels persist over time and are unrelated to disease history and outcome in patients with ulcerative colitis

<p><b>Objectives</b>: Chromogranins (Cg) and secretogranins (Sg) are expressed by endocrine cells and may be important for the pathophysiology of ulcerative colitis (UC). We investigated dynamics of faecal granin expression in patients with UC during a period of 18 months, both during remission and relapse, and association to disease outcome the following 3 years.</p> <p><b>Materials and methods</b>: Secretoneurin (SN), Sg3, CgA and CgB were measured in three to seven serial faecal samples from UC patients who did not (n = 20) or did (n = 20) relapse during study time. All patients were in remission at baseline and disease characteristic were monitored during sampling and 3 years after the final sample.</p> <p><b>Results</b>: Faecal SN, Sg3, CgA and CgB levels showed no association to patient characteristic or disease history at baseline. Faecal granin levels showed low intra-patient variability and levels stayed constant during short and long intervals at remission, did not alter during or after clinical relapse and were not associated to medical therapy. In contrast, high inter-patient variability was detected and multivariate analysis revealed three distinct patient groups, where extensive disease was more common in patients with high levels of SN and CgA as compared to patients with low levels of all granins or patients with high levels of Sg3 and CgB. These patient subgroups did, however, not differ in patient characteristics, disease history or future disease course.</p> <p><b>Conclusions</b>: Faecal granin levels are stable over time but are unrelated to disease history, activity and outcome and are thus not valuable markers for disease activity in UC patients.</p