A Preliminary Study on the Expression of C-X-C Chemokine Genes in Colonic Mucosa of Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

Tang, Suk Kyun; Kim, Ok Hee; Lee, Me Hwa; Shim, Ki Nam; Park, Eui Ryun; Jung, Hwoon Yong; Hong, Weon Seon; Min, Young Il

Abstract

PURPOSE: Chemokines are potent regulators of the host inflammatory or immune responses. Mucosal synthesis of chemokines may be important in the pathogenesis of mucosal inflammation in ulcerative colitis (UC). We performed this study to investigate the expression of C-X-C chemokine genes in UC.
METHODS
Mucosal tissues were obtained from six normal controls and six UC patients by endoscopic biopsies. In patients with UC, mucosal tissues were separately obtained from both involved and uninvolved regions. RNA was extracted and mRNA levels of five C-X-C chemokines were determined by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR using internal RNA standards.
RESULTS
Mucosal mRNA levels of all chemokines tested increased in the involved region of UC compared with the uninvolved region of UC or normal controls.
CONCLUSION
Our data suggest that mucosal expression of C-X-C chemokines contributes to the pathogenesis of UC