Stool interleukin 1β and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist concentrations in children with active ulcerative colitis and during recovery

Abstract

Interleukin 1b (IL-1b) and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) contribute to the development of ulcerative colitis (UC) and concentrations of these interleukins in serum and colonic mucosa are increased in children with UC [2,3]. Nevertheless, except for one study on stool interleukin detection in adult UC patients [7], there are few data on stool IL-1b and IL-1ra concentrations and IL-1ra/IL-1b ratios in children with UC. We report the results of our study on measurement of IL-1b and IL-1ra concentrations in stools of children with active UC and during recovery and assessment of their correlations with UC activity.A total of 20 children with active UC (mean age 10.6 years, range 2-15 years) were prospectively included in the study. Active UC patients were divided, depending on perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (pANCA), into a pANCA positive subgroup (9 children, mean age 10.8 years, range 2-14.3 years) and a pANCA negative subgroup (11 children, mean age 10.4 years, range 3.5-15 years). They were compared to a control group consisting of 14 healthy children (mean age 11.0 years, range 3.5-16 years). UC was diagnosed based on clinical, serological, endoscopic and histopathological criteria. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical College, Jagiellonian University, Cracow. Informed consent was obtained from a parent of each child enrolled in the study.Interleukin concentrations were measured in the stool supernatants using commercial quantitative ELISA immunoassays (Quantikine IL-1b and IL-1ra Immunoassays, R and D Systems, USA). The clinical, endoscopic and histopathological UC activity were graded according to the Truelove-Witts clinical activity index, the Roths endoscopic scale and the standard histopathological scale respectively [1, 5, 6]. All results were presented as median values. Statistical analysis was performed with statistical software Stata 5.0 (Stata Corp., UK) using the Mann-Whitney U test and the Wilcoxon paired test. Correlation coefficients were assessed using the Spearman rank correlation test. A value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.The stool IL-1b and IL-1ra concentrations were higher in active UC patients than in the controls and decreased gradually during recovery, showing higher levels in the pANCA positive UC subgroup compared to the pANCA negative UC subgroup (Fig. 1A,B). The stool IL-1ra/IL-1b ratio was lower in active UC patients than in the controls and increased during recovery (Fig. 1C). The stool IL-1b and IL-1ra concentrations correlated significantly with clinical, endoscopic and histopathological UC activity, reaching in the pANCA positive UC subgroup, the highest correlation coefficients (0.75; 0.58; 0.53 and 0.48; 0.73; 0.74 respectively) compared to the pANCA negative UC subgroup and to the entire group of UC children. The IL-1ra/IL-1b ratio correlated significantly with endoscopic and histopathological UC activity, but did not correlate with clinical UC activity.The few previous data on stool tumour necrosis fac...

Prognostic value of assessment of stool and serum IL-1β, IL-1ra and IL-6 concentrations in children with active and inactive ulcerative colitis

“…Elevated serum IL-1β, IL-1ra and IL-6 concentrations have been reported in patients with active UC and CD in multiple studies [ 9 – 11 ]. Similar observations have been made in studies which investigated the mucosal and fecal concentrations of IL-1β, IL-1ra and IL-6 in children and adults with active and inactive IBD [ 12 – 15 ].…”

SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA and limited inflammatory cytokines are present in the stool of select patients with acute COVID-19

“…The detection of SARS-CoV-2 genome in the stool of multiple donors and the inverse association with fecal consistency led us to investigate if viral infection was causing intestinal inflammation associated with diarrhea among this cohort. Cytokines can be measured in fecal samples, and this method has been used as a sensitive and non-invasive way to monitor intestinal immune responses in inflammatory disease and during enteric infection [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] . In particular, fecal levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-1b are elevated in the context of acute bacterial or viral gastroenteritis and ulcerative colitis 28,29 .…”

Evaluation of biomarkers for ulcerative colitis comparing two sampling methods: fecal markers reflect colorectal inflammation both macroscopically and on a cellular level

“…This is a pro-inflammatory cytokine released primarily by mucosal macrophages that induces among other things fever, anorexia and increased acute phase protein synthesis [15]. The importance of IL-1b in UC is supported by the large amounts produced by macrophages in active disease [16] and the increased amounts of IL-1b found in rectal mucosal fluid [17] and stools from active UC [18,19]. We have previously observed a marked reduction of fecal IL-1b in UC patients following successful treatment [9].…”