Activation of pro-apoptotic pathways involving the TNF superfamily and death domain signalling pathway have been reported to be up-regulated in colonic enterocytes isolated from patients with ulcerative colitis, from which C-IAP2 (BIRC3) has been proposed as a disease marker [61], whilst the leukocytes serine anti-proteinase elafin has recently been identified as a candidate biomarker for ulcerative colitis but with attenuated induction in Crohn's disease [56]. Here, BIRC3 is linked to ulcerative colitis.