Increased Bacterial Proteolytic Activity Detected Before Diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis

To the Editors, Thank you for inviting us to comment on our recent article published in Gastroenterology, in which we found that a high fecal proteolytic activity preceded the clinical onset of ulcerative colitis (UC).1 This was determined using a unique longitudinal cohort of asymptomatic individuals at risk for inflammatory bowel disease (pre-UC) that were followed prospectively until they developed UC (post-UC). Matched at-risk subjects from...