Influence of parenteral nutrition on serum levels of proteins in patients with Crohn's disease

Abstract

Parenteral nutrition (PN) is commonly used in the management of inflammatory bowel disease. Previously we reported about the serum protein levels in Crohn's disease before and after treatment with PN; in that study we found an increase of some indicators of nutritional status and a decrease of some acute phase reactants after treatment. We have now completed the trial determining the concentration of 19 serum proteins in 25 patients with Crohn's disease before and after treatment with PN and 8 wk thereafter. The concentration of albumin, retinol-binding protein, prealbumin, and transferrin were found to rise in parallel with the body weight during PN, whereas 8 wk after treatment only albumin and transferrin showed a further significant rise. alpha-1-Glycoprotein, alpha-2-chymotrypsin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, CRP, and haptoglobin decreased during and 8 wk after PN, alpha-1-glycoprotein, alpha-2-chymotrypsin, and alpha-1-antitrypsin showed a positive correlation to the Crohn's Disease Activity Index. The serum IgM-levels were found to be significantly increased during and after PN with a negative correlation to the Crohn's Disease Activity Index. Our data indicate that PN not only improves nutritional status in the active phase of Crohn's disease during therapy but reduces the grade of inflammatory activity during and even after treatment with PN.