Serum IL-22 as a novel non-invasive biomarker in diagnosis and assessment of activity in ulcerative colitis patients

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a multifactorial disease of unknown etiology. Mucosal healing is an important predictor of the course of disease and has therefore become the aim of UC treatment Repeated endoscopies to identify mucosal inflammation are expensive. Interleukin (IL)-22 is a member of the IL-10 family of cytokines that was recently discovered to be mainly produced by both adaptive and innate immune cells. Interlukein 22 is constitutively expressed in the small intestine to maintain the epithelial integrity that provides the first line of defense against enteric microorganisms for preserving appropriate host–microbial interactions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of serum IL-22 as a novel non-invasive biomarker in diagnosis and assessment of activity in ulcerative colitis patients. This was a case control study that was conducted on 55 subjects at Ain shams university hospitals inpatients and outpatients settings throughout 6 months. Subjects were divided into 2 groups: Group (A): that included 40 patients with ulcerative colitis: 20 patients in clinical, laboratory and endoscopic remission and 20 patients in clinical, laboratory and endoscopic activity and Group (B) that included15 healthy controls.