Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are considered one of many factors responsible for immune reaction in non-specific inflammatory bowel diseases (nsibd). The aim of this work was to evaluate the presence of ANCA in children with nsibd, particularly with ulcerative colitis (UC) as well as to establish a correlation between ANCA and the course of UC. The study was conducted on 46 children aged 11-17.5 years, out of whom 18 suffered from ulcerative colitis. ANCA were detected in the sera of 8 out of 46 analysed cases (17.4%), including 6 out of 18 children (33.3%) with UC. In check-up examination performed in the phase of clinical improvement and conducted in 5 subjects with UC, no ANCA were detected. This problem requires further studies on larger material in order to determine the tendency that would allow to consider ANCA a marker of acute UC attack in children.

Keywords: antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies, ANCA, non-specific inflammatory bowel diseases, children, ulcerative colitis