Role of Interleukin - 1 alpha (IL-1α) and Regulatory T (Treg) Cells In The Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Background: Continuous effort has been paid to deeply understanding the pathophysiology of Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).It has been postulated that multiple factors such as genetic susceptibility, immunological and environmental factors are involved and generate a dysregulated response of the mucosal immune system toward intraluminal antigens. Accumulating evidence indicates that discrepancy between the number of T regulatory cells (Treg) in peripheral blood and in inflamed colonic mucosa has a central role and Interleukin (IL)-1 is a key mediator in the pathogenesis of IBD. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the role of Interleukin1 alpha (IL-1α) and T regulatory (Treg) cells in the pathogenesis of IBD. Study Design: This study was conducted in internal medicine Department of ElHussein university hospital, AL-Azhar University. In this study, 50 subjects were selected and divided into two groups; Group A (n=30) were patients with IBD and Group B (n=20) were healthy control group. The two groups were subjected to the following; full history taking, clinical evaluation, Abdominal ultrasonography, CBC with differential count, Liver function tests, renal function tests, C-reactive protein , ESR and serum level of both Treg cells and IL-1α . IL-1α was detected in serum by ELISA and (Treg) (FoxP3) cells by flow cytometry techniques. Colonoscopy with multiple biopsies and histopathological assessment was performed to group A only. Results: Our results showed that the serum level of Treg cells was significantly decreased in Group A (3.16±2.26) in comparison to control group B (9.14±0.639) (P<0.001). moreover ,the serum level of Treg cells was significantly decreased in moderate to severe disease activity (1.755± 0.556) as compared with patients with mild disease activity (5.980±1.616) (P<0.001) . The present study also revealed that, the serum level of IL-1α was significantly increased in patients Group A (11.74±3.24) in comparison to control Group B (2.84±0.877) (P<0.001). Additionally, the level IL-1α was significantly higher in moderate to sever disease activity (13.750 ± 1.602) than patients with mild disease activity (7.720±1.289) (P<0.001). Conclusion: The level of Treg cells and Interleukin1 alpha have an important role in the pathogenesis and propagation of the inflammatory response in IBD and had a dynamic changes in both remission and active disease stages. These results suggested that Treg cells and Interleukin1 alpha can be used as a diagnostic markers and a potential therapeutic targets for IBD.