Apoptosis markers of circulating leukocytes are associated with the clinical course of inflammatory bowel disease.

Aim: Here we aimed at evaluating whether the apoptosis status of circulating leukocytes of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) patients is attributed to the diseases clinical status.

Background: Defects in the programmed cell death of inflammatory cells is known as to play a major role in the pathogenesis of IBD, and has been associated with the clinical efficacy of therapeutic agents.

Methods: A total of 50 IBD patients, 25 with remission and 25 with flare-up phase of the disease, who their disease was confirmed by colonoscopy, were included in this cross-sectional study. Pro-apoptotic Bax and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 mRNA expression, along with Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, as measures of apoptotic status, were assessed in the Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) of the patients using semi-quantitative Real-time PCR method.

Results: The mean Bax mRNA expression level was 0.54±0.12 in flare-up group and 0.53±0.13 in remission group (p=0.8). The mean Bcl-2 mRNA expression level was 0.63±0.13 in flare-up group and 0.55±0.12 in remission group (p=0.03). The mean Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was 0.88±0.17 in flare-up group and 1±21 in remission group (p=0.05). The mean Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was not statistically significant between different disease types (p=0.54) or therapeutic agents (p=0.7).

Conclusion: According to our results, alteration in markers of apoptosis could be traced in the circulating leukocytes of IBD patients, which suggest a potential for clinical application of apoptosis markers in disease monitoring and prediction of relapse.