Objective: To investigate the potential inflammatory pathways involved in the development of microscopic colitis (MC).
Methods: This prospective study analysed human intestinal tissue that was collected and classified as healthy controls (HC), microscopic colitis (MC) and ulcerative colitis (UC). An RT2 Profiler PCR Array for human inflammatory response and autoimmunity was used to evaluate the expression of 84 specific genes related to the inflammatory and autoimmunity pathways. Data were validated by means of real-time polymerase chain reaction on an independent group of MC intestinal tissue samples.
Results: This study measured the expression of inflammatory genes in HC (n = 10), in patients with MC (n = 8) and in patients with active UC (n = 10). Of the 84 genes included in the array, the expression of the C-C motif chemokine ligand 19, C-C motif chemokine ligand 21, lymphotoxin beta and complement C3 genes that are involved in the non-canonical nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-kB) pathway was increased by 2.96, 6.05, 5.96 and 5.93 times in MC compared with HC, respectively. These results were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that an impairment of the non-canonical NF-kB pathway is involved in the development of MC.
Keywords: Microscopic colitis; collagenous colitis; inflammation; inflammatory pathway; lymphocytic colitis.