Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate mucosal expression of INF-gamma and IL-10 in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC).
Methods: Fourteen patients with CD and 11 patients with ulcerative colitis participated and 7 healthy subjects were also included. Study of the mucosal expression of INF-gamma and IL-10 was conducted using biopsies from healthy and damaged colons, using the inverse transcription and genetic amplification (RT-PCR) technique in real time (Taqman). Our results were expressed as ratio between messenger cytokine (mRNA) levels and ribosomal RNA level of a reference molecule (rRNA 18S), then multiplied by 108.
Results: In the cases of Crohn's disease, the mucosa expressed increased INF-gamma and IL-10 compared with controls (respective medians: 23.03 vs. 1.87 p=0.04 and 20.61 vs. 2.13 p=0.08). A strong positive correlation was found in the mucosal expression of IL-10 and INF-gamma during CD (r=0.9 p<0.0001). In contrast, in patients with UC, the expression of INF-gamma and IL-10 were comparable to those observed in the controls (7.18 vs. 2.18 p=0.36 and 3.66 vs. 1.87 p=0.44).
Conclusion: During Crohn's disease, the expression of both IL-10 and INF-gamma was increased and strongly correlated, compared with the controls.