Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a cytokine that belongs to the interleukin-1 family and has been shown to be associated with mucosal inflammation. The aim of this study was to determine the serum level of IL-33 in children with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) and to correlate the level with the disease progression. In this cross sectional prospective study, we enrolled 50 children with IBD from KAUH, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and 34 healthy control subjects between June 2012 and December 2012. Serum IL-33 was assessed by ELISA and CRP by immunonephelometric assay. Results from our study showed 32 CD and 18 UC patients included. The median age was 13.5 years for CD patients, 11.9 years for UC patients and 11.2 years for controls. Females constituted 53%, 66.7% and 59% of CD, UC and control subjects respectively. The median serum IL-33 in UC patients of 55.5 pg/mL was significantly higher than the median IL-33 level of 41 pg/mL in the healthy control (P=0.04) but no significant difference was found between the median IL-33 level in the sera of CD and the control group (P=0.7). A higher median IL-33 level was also found in active disease (P=0.03). In our cohort, the serum level of IL-33 was positively correlated with hs-CRP (r=0.48, P < 0.001). To conclude, our results support that serum IL-33 level is increased in children with UC as compared with control. Serum level is correlated with the disease activity; therefore it could be used as a potential biomarker for monitoring the severity of the disease in children with UC.
Keywords: Crohn’s disease (CD); IL-33; Saudi Arabia; children; ulcerative colitis (UC).