Currently, there is no single golden standard for diagnosing ulcerative colitis (UC). Now serum αvβ6 autoantibodies have shown promise as a diagnostic tool for UC. Here the aim was to determine the diagnostic performance of serum αvβ6 autoantibodies for UC.

PubMed, the Cochrane Library, the Embase, and the Web of Science were searched comprehensively. STATA software was utilized to analyze the relevant data.

9 studies from 6 articles with 1827 subjects were eligible. The summary sensitivity and specificity of serum αvβ6 autoantibodies to diagnose UC were 0.82 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.65-0.92) and 0.94 (95 % CI: 0.90-0.97) with an area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.96 (95 % CI: 0.94-0.97). Subgroup analysis was conducted owning to substantial heterogeneity between studies (I² = 97 % and P < 0.001). The aggregate sensitivity and specificity to diagnose UC in adults were 0.75 (95 % CI: 0.61-0.86) and 0.95 (95 % CI: 0.90-0.97), and when using a threshold of mean control+3SD, 0.80 (95 % CI: 0.60-0.91) and 0.96 (95 % CI: 0.90-0.99), respectively. Additionally, to differentiate UC from healthy participants, non-inflammatory bowel disease, and Crohn's disease, the overall specificity was 0.96, 0.88, and 0.80, respectively.

serum αvβ6 autoantibodies, as a non-invasive tool, demonstrated good diagnostic accuracy for UC. However, their application may be limited in some immune-related disorders, and further studies are needed for validation.