The role of T helper cytokines in indeterminate colitis.

ABSTRACT

Background: Indeterminate colitis is one of the inflammatory bowel diseases that cannot be classified over time as having ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Dysregulated immunity has been implicated in indeterminate colitis.Aim: to measure serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and IL-6 and anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 in indeterminate colitis patients. Methods: A cross- sectional study carried out in Al-Kindi Teaching Hospital, Baghdad city from 2007 - 2010. Sixty patients with indeterminate colitis participated in the study. Serum levels of cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma were done by Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) and compared with age and sex matched thirty healthy controls. Results: There is a significant increased in IL-10 (p=0.003) and IFN-gamma (p=0.0001) in indeterminate colitis patients. TNF-alpha was significantly decreased (p=0.0001) while IL-6 showed no significance different with control group(p=0.735).Conclusions: There is increase in IL-10 and INF-gamma levels and decrease in TNF-alfa levels in patients with IC.