Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, China.
Department of Gastroenterology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Mediators Inflamm. 2021 Oct 26;2021:5527627. doi: 10.1155/2021/5527627. eCollection 2021.
Immune disorders play an important role in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD). Notably, the increased immune response of Th1 cells and related cytokines is associated with the onset of CD. IL-27 is a newly discovered IL-12-related cytokine, but its expression and clinical significance in CD patients are still controversial. This study is aimed at evaluating the serum levels of IL-27 in CD patients and analyzing their clinical significance. The results indicated that serum levels of IL-27 in CD patients were significantly higher than those in control subjects (median (interquartile range (IQR)): 110.0 (95.0, 145.0) vs. 85.0 (80.0, 95.0) pg/ml, < 0.001). Furthermore, the IL-27 levels significantly increased in CD patients at the active stage compared with CD patients in remission (CDR) (127.5 (100.0, 150.0) vs. 90 (80.0, 110.0) pg/ml, < 0.001). However, there was no difference in IL-27 levels between CDR and control subjects. The levels of IL-27 were positively correlated with Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI), C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), fecal calprotectin (FC), and Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease (SES-CD) and negatively correlated with hemoglobin (Hb) and serum albumin (ALB). IL-27 combined with CRP favored the prediction of CD activity (area under the curve (AUC): 0.88). Additionally, the proportions of Th17 and Th1 cells in peripheral blood were higher in CD patients than in control subjects. Active CD patients exhibited significantly higher proportions of Th17 and Th1 cells than those in remission. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that the serum levels of IL-27 were positively associated with the frequency of Th17 cells in CD patients ( = 0.519, = 0.013) but not associated with the frequency of Th1 cells in CD patients. IL-27 is positively associated with multiple inflammation indicators and may exert a proinflammatory profile by regulating Th17 cell differentiation in the development of Crohn's disease. In the future, IL-27 combined with CRP is expected to become an important biological marker of CD activity.
免疫紊乱在克罗恩病（CD）的发病机制中起重要作用。值得注意的是，Th1 细胞的过度免疫反应及其相关细胞因子与 CD 的发病有关。IL-27 是一种新发现的 IL-12 相关细胞因子，但它在 CD 患者中的表达及其临床意义仍存在争议。本研究旨在评估 CD 患者血清中 IL-27 的水平，并分析其临床意义。结果表明，CD 患者血清中 IL-27 的水平明显高于对照组（中位数（四分位数间距（IQR））：110.0（95.0，145.0）比 85.0（80.0，95.0）pg/ml， < 0.001）。此外，与缓解期 CD 患者（CDR）相比，活动期 CD 患者的 IL-27 水平显著升高（127.5（100.0，150.0）比 90（80.0，110.0）pg/ml， < 0.001）。然而，CDR 患者与对照组之间的 IL-27 水平没有差异。IL-27 水平与克罗恩病活动指数（CDAI）、C 反应蛋白（CRP）、红细胞沉降率（ESR）、粪便钙卫蛋白（FC）和简单克罗恩病内镜评分（SES-CD）呈正相关，与血红蛋白（Hb）和血清白蛋白（ALB）呈负相关。IL-27 联合 CRP 有利于预测 CD 活动（曲线下面积（AUC）：0.88）。此外，CD 患者外周血中 Th17 和 Th1 细胞的比例高于对照组。活动期 CD 患者的 Th17 和 Th1 细胞比例明显高于缓解期患者。此外，相关性分析表明，CD 患者血清中 IL-27 水平与 Th17 细胞频率呈正相关（ = 0.519， = 0.013），但与 CD 患者 Th1 细胞频率无关。IL-27 与多种炎症指标呈正相关，通过调节 Th17 细胞分化，可能在克罗恩病的发生发展中发挥促炎作用。未来，IL-27 联合 CRP 有望成为 CD 活动的重要生物学标志物。
