Gastroenterologìa (Dec 2021)

Gender features of the cytokine profile in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis

  • L.M. Mosiychuk,
  • O.M. Tatarchuk,
  • O.P. Petishko

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22141/2308-2097.55.4.2021.247911
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 55, no. 4
pp. 217 – 222

Abstract

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Background. Сhronic atrophic gastritis certainly remains an urgent problem of gastroenterology but data on sexual differences in the content of cytokines in this pathology are quite contradictory. The purpose of the study: to assess the gender chara­cteristics of the cytokine profile in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis. Materials and methods. The study included 120 patients with gastric atrophy, according to histological examination of biop­sies. The control group consisted of 20 healthy individuals, men and women equally. In all patients, we have evaluated the levels of interleukins (IL-8, IL-10, IL-18), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), vasculoendothelial growth factor (VEGF) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using appropriate reagent from Vector-BEST kits and the Stat Fax 303 Plus analyzer. Results. In men with chronic atrophic gastritis, there is a more pronounced imba­lance towards pro-inflammatory cytokines, in particular the level of IL-18 is 1.7 times higher (p 0.05) compared to women. The level of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 does not have a significant gender difference in patients with precancerous conditions of the stomach. The median of IL-18/IL-10 ratio in men is 2 times higher than in women: 65.36 (21.67; 154.25) vs. 32.15 (12.76; 191.85) (p < 0. 05). In males, IL-8/IL-10 ratio is also 1.5 times higher, which is 2.25 (1.29; 7.68) vs. 1.49 (0.75; 9.78) but this difference was not statically significant. Serum content of VEGF in men exceeded the same indicator in women by 1.4 times (p < 0.05). Direct correlation between VEGF content and the levels of TNF-α (r = 0.47, p < 0.05), IL-8 (r = 0.42, p < 0.05), IL-18 (r = 0.58, p < 0.05) confirm the evidence of increased VEGF expression under the influence of many proangiogenic growth factors and proinflammatory cytokines. Conclusions. With an increase in the level of IL-18 and VEGF by more than 30 %, men require dynamic monitoring for early detection of precancerous structural changes in the gastric mucosa.

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