Expression of follistatin-like protein 1 in the peripheral blood and intestinal tissue of patients with ulcerative colitis and its clinical significance

Abstract

Objective To examine the expression of follistatin-like protein 1 (FSTL1) in the peripheral blood and intestinal mucosa tissues of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and analyze the correlation between its expression and the activity of UC.Methods From October 2010 to June 2012,sixty patients with UC were collected.From April 2012 to October 2012,thirty individuals without any obvious mucosa lesion under colonoscope and confirmed by pathological examination were set as control group.The serum expression level of FSTL1 of both UC group and control group were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).t-test was performed for comparison between groups.The expression of FSTL1 in the intestinal mucosa of UC group and control group was detected by immunohistochemistry.Chi-square test was used for comparison between groups.The patients with UC were scored with ulcerative colitis disease activity index (UCDAI).Its correlation with plasma FSTL1 was analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient.Results The serum expression level of FSTL1 of UC group ((14.37-±-1.80) μg/L) was higher than that of control group ((5.80±0.72) μg/L)and the difference was statistically significant (t=25.01,P＜ 0.05).The serum expression level of FSTL1 of UC group was positively correlated with UCDAI (r=0.814,P＜0.05).The positive expression rate of FSTL1 in the intestinal mucosa tissues of UC group (86.7％,52/60)was higher than that of control group (46.7％,14/30) and the difference was statistically significant (x2 =52.334,P＜0.05).Conclusions The expression of FSTL1 of UC patients increases and is positively correlated with disease activity.FSTL1 may play a role in the development of UC. Key words: Follistatin-related proteins; Colitis, ulcerative; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Immunohistochemistry; Staining and labeling