The mRNA expression of triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-l in peripheral blood monocytes of patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Objective To compare the levels of mRNA expression of triggering receptor expressed in myeloid cells-l (TREM-1) in peripheral blood mononuclear cell ( PBMC) of active ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, remittent UC patients and healthy controls and find out the relationship between TREM-1 and disease activity. Methods The patients with UC were divided into active group and remittent group according to results from colonoscopy and biopsy. The expressions of TREM-1 mRNA in PBMC were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-RT-PCR) in 70 UC patients (38 active patients, 32 remittent patients) and 20 healthy controls, and the levels of gene expression were analyzed by the relative quantitative ACt values. The correlations between the expressions of TREM-1 mRNA, ESR and CRP were identified by analyzing the relationship between the level of TREM-1 mRNA expression and the quantity of ESR and CRP in active UC patients. Results Expressions of TREM-1 mRNA in active UC patients(4. 19 ± 1. 86) were higher than those of remittent UC patients ( 5. 29 ± 1. 71, P = 0. 007 ) and healthy controls (5. 19 ± 1. 04,P = 0. 032). There was no statistical difference between remittent UC patients and healthy controls(P =0. 892). The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (0.763) was above 0.5(P < 0. 001) , showing that TREM-1 mRNA was of value for prediction the disease activity in patients with UC.ΔCt of 4. 63 was the best threshold to determine the disease activity and its diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 73. 7% and 68.1% , respectively. In active UC patients, expression of TREM-1 mRNA was correlated with ESR( r = 0. 582, P = 0. 03 ) , but there was no correlation with CRP( r =0.447, P = 0. 055). Conclusions Expression of TREM-1 mRNA is significantly elevates in active UC patients, which suggests that TREM-1 might be involved in the pathogenesis of UC. In active UC patients, there is a correlation between expression of TREM-1 mRNA and ESR, but not CRP. Key words: Colitis; ulcerative; Leukocytes; mononuclear; Membrane glycoproteins; Receptors; immunologic; Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction