Relationship between serum IL-18 concentrations and ulcerative colitis / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the role of IL-18 in the pathogenesis and treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Method An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was utilized to detect the serum IL-18 level of 58 UC patients. Results The serum IL-18 level in acute period of UC patients was significantly higher than that in control ones(P < 0.05 ). There was no significant difference between remisson period of UC and control ones (P> 0.05). The serum IL-18 level was closely related with the degree of UC (P < 0.05),the mean concentration of serum IL-18 was significantly higher in patients with severe ulcerative colitis [ (392.78 ± 50.17)pg/ml]than in patients with mild colitis ulcerative [ (138.92 ± 23.41 )pg/ml]and in control ones. Serum IL-18 in active ulcerative colitis were positively related to clinical disease severity and activity or laboratory parameters,including CAI,serum CRP,erythrocyte sedimentation rates,or total leukocyte counts (r = 0.775,0.705,0.662,0.625,P < 0.01 ). The level of IL-18 was declined after treatment with corticoids(P< 0.05). Conclusions IL-18 might play an important role in the pathogenesis of UC. The measurement of IL-18 is helpful to estimate the disease activity of UC and it may be considered as laboratory and activity criteria for UC.