ABSTRACT
AIM: In this study, we determined the relationship between the serum level of IL-23 and the severity of ulcerative colitis (UC) among our population. BACKGROUND: A recent major breakthrough for describing the pathogenesis of intestinal tissue injury in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the pathway related to interleukin-23 (IL-23). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective case-control study on a total of 85 new patients with ulcerative colitis, recruited from a general referral hospital. Forty ethnically matched healthy controls were also enrolled among hospital staffs and analyzed. Serum IL-23 level was quantified using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) method with an immunoassay analyzer. RESULTS: The mean serum IL-23 level in the group with ulcerative colitis was significantly higher than the healthy individuals (347.5±130.8 pg/ml versus 233.5±86.3 pg/ml; p< 0.001). There was a positive correlation between the serum level of IL-23 and disease duration (r = 0.27, p = 0.04). Also, a direct relationship was found between the serum level of IL-23 and the severity of disease (mean IL-23 in mild UC = 296.2±51.2 pg/ml; in moderate UC= 356.1±142.9 pg/ml; and in severe UC= 399.3±163.8 pg/ml, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Serum level of IL-23 is directly correlated with the duration and severity of ulcerative colitis.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Uraemic patients show susceptibility to gastrointestinal mucosal lesions and colonisation by Helicobacter pylori (HP). Antibiotic resistance constitutes a problem in treatment and bismuth preparations are toxic in uraemic patients. This study aimed to assess the correlation between creatinine clearance (CrCl) and eradication of HP infection with new sequential and standard triple therapeutic regimens. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 120 HP-positive patients with renal function impairment and 60 control patients with HP infection were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into four groups on the basis of CrCl and were randomly assigned to one of the two different regimens: A 14-day standard triple therapy with 20mg omeprazole bid, 1000mg amoxicillin bid and 500mg clarithromycin bid and a new sequential regimen with 20mg omeprazole bid and 1000mg amoxicillin bid both for 14 days, 500mg ciprofloxacin bid for the first 7 days and 200mg furazolidone bid for the last 7 days. Doses of amoxicillin, clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin were reduced to 50% in the cases of CrCl <30mgdl(-1). RESULTS: One hundred and sixty two out of 180 HP-positive patients (54.3% male, 51.6±12.1 years) completed treatment in the four groups and were studied. According to renal function they were classified into group A (n=39), haemodialysis (HD) patients; group B (n=37), CrCl <30mgdl(-1) without HD; group C (n=36), CrCl between 30 and 60mgdl(-1); and group D (n=50), control subjects with CrCl >90mgdl(-1). HP was successfully eradicated in 77.7% of patients with standard triple therapy and in 81.4% of patients with the sequential therapy. There was no significant difference among the study groups in the rate of HP-infection eradication with both regimens. CONCLUSION: HP eradication rates did not differ with both sequential and standard therapeutic regimens in uraemic and non-uraemic patients. We, therefore, prefer the standard triple therapy due to its simplicity and reported.
