Expression of mRNA for glucocorticoid receptors in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND

The amount of glucocorticoid (GC) receptors (GR) in immune cells might be critical for successful GC treatment of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). However, little is known about the expression of GR in CD; therefore, we carried out quantitative analyses for GR messenger (m)RNA expression in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of CD.

METHODS

Seventeen patients with CD and 33 healthy subjects entered into this study. We measured the GRalpha mRNA level in the PBMC of these subjects by a reverse transcription-competitive polymerase chain reaction procedure. Relative amounts for GRbeta mRNA were obtained semiquantitatively.

RESULTS

The amounts of GRalpha-mRNA in the CD patients and healthy subjects were 0.053 +/- 0.052 and 0.130 +/- 0.108 (copies/copies of beta-actin mRNA), respectively. The former value was significantly lower than that of the latter (P < 0.01). The rates of the CD patients and healthy subjects expressing GRbeta-mRNA in PBMC were 41.2% and 45.5%, respectively, and there was no significant difference in the rates between the two groups (P = 0.339). However, the relative amounts of GRbeta-mRNA in the PBMC were estimated to be 1.053 x 10-5 +/- 2.540 x 10-5 for the CD patients, and 1.872 x 10-5 +/- 3.252 x 10-5 (fluorescence intensity/copies of beta-actin mRNA) for the healthy subjects, and the former was significantly smaller than the latter (P < 0.05). Moreover, there was an inverse correlation between the duration of disease (year) and the amounts of GRalpha-mRNA in the PBMC of the CD patients (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The amounts of GRalpha-mRNA and GRbeta-mRNA in the PBMC of the CD patients were lower than those of the healthy subjects. The duration of disease correlated with decreased amounts of GRalpha-mRNA in the PBMC. Furthermore, the clinical significance of the GR-mRNA status in the PBMC remains to be elucidated.