Evaluation of TNF-α concentration in blood serum of children with inflammatory bowel diseases

Introduction: TNF-alpha is an important inflammatory mediator and it plays a substantial role in creating numerous clinical symptoms in inflammatory bowel diseases. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of TNF-alpha in blood serum of children with IBD as well as an attempt to correlate its concentration with selected clinical symptoms and mutation of the NOD2/CARD15 gene. Material and methods: The study comprised 78 children, aged between 4 and 18 years (mean 14 years), 38 with Crohn's disease and 40 with ulcerative colitis. The diagnosis was established on the basis of the Porto criteria. The control group comprised 23 children, in a similar age range, with functional disorders of the alimentary tract. The concentration of TNF-alpha in blood serum of the examined children was detected with the ELISA method, by using the set produced by Bender. Results: The concentration of TNF-alpha in the group of children with Crohn's disease was statistically significantly higher than the concentration in children with ulcerative colitis and the control group (p=0.007). We did not find any statistically significant differences in TNF-alpha concentration in relation to the nutritional state and disease activity in the examined groups of children. The analysis of TNF-alpha concentration in children with at least one mutation of NOD2/CARD15 (R702W, G908R, L1007fs) gene did not show statistically significant differences. Conclusions: A higher concentration of TNF-alpha in children with Crohn's disease was observed but we did not find a correlation between clinical symptoms and mutation of the NOD2/CARD15 gene.