背景:乳糜泻(CD)是一种慢性免疫介导的肠病,其发病机制涉及细胞因子网络。白细胞介素-2(IL-2)在CD的适应性免疫发病机理中具有关键作用,并且已被报道为CD患者在麸质暴露后最早引起的细胞因子之一。这项研究旨在调查IL-2和功能相关基因SOCS1和TBX21在活性和治疗CD患者与对照组相比的表达水平。
结果:从40个活性CD(ACD)收集外周血(PB)样本,100处理CD,100名健康受试者提取RNA,合成cDNA并通过实时PCR研究所需基因的mRNA表达水平。基因-基因相互作用网络也通过GeneMANIA构建。我们的结果表明,与对照组(p=0.001)和接受治疗的CD患者(p=0.0001)相比,ACD患者中IL-2的PBmRNA表达更高。与对照组相比,ACD患者中TBX21的mRNA表达水平也显着上调(P=0.03)。SOCS1mRNA水平在活跃和治疗的CD患者和对照组之间没有差异(p=0.05),但与患者的口疮性口炎症状显着相关(r=0.37,p=0.01)。ROC曲线分析表明,使用IL-2水平可以在区分活动性CD患者中达到较高的特异性和敏感性。
结论:IL-2的PB水平有可能被引入作为CD的诊断生物标志物。较大的队列研究,包括儿科患者,需要在这方面获得更多的见解。
BACKGROUND: Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated enteropathy and a cytokine network is involved in its pathogenesis. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) has a key role in the adaptive immune pathogenesis of CD and has been reported to be one of the earliest cytokines to be elicited after gluten exposure by CD patients. This study aimed at investigating the expression level of IL-2 and functionally related genes SOCS1 and TBX21 in active and treated CD patients compared to controls.
RESULTS: Peripheral blood (PB) samples were collected from 40 active CD (ACD), 100 treated CD, and 100 healthy subjects. RNA was extracted, cDNA was synthesized and mRNA expression levels of the desired genes were investigated by Real-time PCR. The gene-gene interaction network was also constructed by GeneMANIA. Our results showed a higher PB mRNA expression of IL-2 in ACD patients compared to controls (p = 0.001) and treated CD patients (p˂0.0001). The mRNA expression level of TBX21 was also significantly up-regulated in ACD patients compared to controls (P = 0.03). SOCS1 mRNA level did not differ between active and treated CD patients and controls (p˃0.05) but showed a significant correlation with the patient\'s aphthous stomatitis symptom (r = 0.37, p = 0.01). ROC curve analysis suggested that the use of IL-2 levels can reach a high specificity and sensitivity in discriminating active CD patients.
CONCLUSIONS: The PB level of IL-2 has the potential to be introduced as a diagnostic biomarker for CD. Larger cohort studies, including pediatric patients, are needed to achieve more insights in this regard.