From the Editor

Abstract

intestinal permeability and the immune response to enteric bacterial antigens in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Their finding of an increased systemic concentration of antibodies to lipid A in patients with inflammatory bowel disease is in agreement with studies showing increased titres of antibodies to the endotoxin core,l to peptidoglycan-polysaccharide complexes,2 and to a variety of enteric bacteria3 in these diseases. These studies offer indirect evidence of mucosal barrier dysfunction in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, which supports the more direct evidence provided by the measurement of systemic endotoxin concen- or by bacterial culture studies.'