Serum TLR9 and NF-κB Biochemical Markers in Patients with Acute Pancreatitis on Admission

Abstract

Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum TLR9 and NF-κB levels in patients for the diagnosis and prognostication of AP in the emergency department. Methods. In the current study, we looked at the TLR9 and NF-κB pathways in a cohort of 45 acute pancreatitis patients and compared them with the control group. We also divided the patient groups as mild-moderate or severe and compared the biomarker levels between the groups. Results. Of the patients with acute pancreatitis, 22 (49%) were male and 23 (51%) were female. The mean age of the patient group was 62 years, with a range of 25–95 years. The control group consisted of 19 (43.1%) male and 25 (56.9%) female patients. The serum TLR9 and NF-κB values were significantly higher than those of the control group [1104.44 ± 339.20 vs. 702.08 ± 203.94; p<0.001 and 8.04 ± 1.76 vs. 4.76 ± 1.13; p<0.001, respectively]. We found that TLR9 and NF-κB had a significant discriminative ability, while the cutoff value for TLR9 was 950.4, with a sensitivity of 73% and specificity of 93% (p<0.001), and the cutoff value for NF-κB was 6.32, with a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 100% (p<0.001). Conclusion. We demonstrated that the TLR9 and NF-κB pathway is activated in acute pancreatitis and increases the inflammatory process. This may help to further understand the pathogenesis of disorder, diagnosis, and clinical severity. We proposed that blockage of these inflammatory pathways may play a role in the prevention of the disease progression and development of inflammatory complications.