Tropomyosins have been implicated in the autoimmune disease ulcerative colitis, a disease of the colon that is characterised by ulcers or open sores. The link between this disease and tropomyosin was first acknowledged in a study that found blood serum taken from 95% of patients with ulcerative colitis contained antibodies that reacted positively to tropomyosin. Additional studies have confirmed these results, but also identify Tropomyosin 5 and Tropomyosin 1 as the primary tropomyosins involved in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis. Tropomyosin 5 has been related to the development of pouchitis in the ileal pouch following surgery for ulcerative colitis. The elevated number of IgG-producing cells in the colonic mucosa of ulcerative colitis patients is largely committed to producing IgG against Tropomyosin 5-related epitopes. Tropomyosin 5 is, therefore, capable of inducing a significant T-cell response. A physicochemical analysis of common structural motifs present in 109 human autoantigens revealed that tropomyosins have the highest number of such motifs, and thus a very high propensity to act as autoantigens.