Human colon expression in healthy, CD, treated CD, and UC

Activation of inflammatory pathways in human IBDIL-6:STAT3 pathways are activated in the affected colon in IBD. However, the functional implications of this are not known. We hypothesized that pro-inflammatory IL-6:STAT3 dependent networks would be up regulated in the colon of pediatric patients with Crohn Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), and that these would regulate leukocyte survival, proliferation, and recruitment to the gut. These experiments tested differential colon gene expression relative to these pathways in healthy, CD, and UC samples. Colon biopsy samples were obtained from CD and UC patients at diagnosis, CD patients during therapy, and healthy controls. The global pattern of gene expression was determined using GeneSpring software, and biological networks were identified using Ingenuity software. Data suggested that two IL-6:STAT3 dependent networks are up regulated in pediatric IBD both at diagnosis and during therapy which regulate leukocyte recruitment and survival. The degree of up regulation of these genes compared to healthy controls was remarkably conserved across the two CD groups and the UC groups, suggesting common mechanisms of mucosal inflammation.

keywords: Single time point in CD UC and healthy controls. expression profiling by array