Systemic Th1/Th2 Cytokine Profiles in Ulcerative Colitis

Min, Sang Woon; Kim, Tae Yeon; You, Sang Doo; Seo, Kang Seok; Joo, Young Eun; Kim, Hyun Soo; Choi, Sung Kyu; Rew, Jong Sun; Kim, Sei Jong

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Previous studies showed that ulcerative colitis (UC) was a T-helper 2 (Th2) response dominant disease while Crohn's disease was a T-helper 1 (Th1) response dominant disease. In this study, we evaluated the Th1 and Th2 reponses by measuring the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12 in patients with UC and normal controls. METHODS: Serum concentrations of IL-10 and IL-12 were measured using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in 24 patients (15 with mild to moderatie disease, 9 with severe disease) with UC and 11 healthy controls. RESULTS: The serum concentrations of IL-10 in patients with UC were significantly higher than those of controls (p<0.05), while the concentrations of IL-12 in the patients were significantly lower than those of controls (p<0.05). Additionally, the serum concentrations of IL-10 and IL-12 were not closely related to the severity of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: The above results suggest that UC may be resulted from dysregulation of Th1 and Th2 immune response. However, there was no definite correlation between the severity of disease and the level of IL-10 or IL-12.