Study Of The Relationships Between MMP-1, TIMP-1 And TNF-α, IL-10 Expressed In Patients With Ulcerative Colitis

Objective: This study was aimed to examine the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1(MMP-1), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and intelukin-10(IL-10) in colon mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis(UC) at the level of mRNA and protein, to analyze the correlation of the four factors , and the relationships between the four factors and the severity of clinical symptoms of the patients with UC, to investigate their roles in the process of UC and their clinical significance, so that new methods could be developed to judge the severity of clinical symptoms and to treat the patients with UC based on this study.Methods: Thirty-four patients with UC were collected and were classified into 3 groups according to the clinical symptoms and pathological histology: mild, moderate and severe groups. The biopsy specimens were taken from areas of ulcerated, inflamed and non-inflamed colonic mucosa. Meanwhile, specimens from colonic mucosa in twenty normal persons were also collected as controls. RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to examine the expression of MMP-1, TIMP-1, TNF-αand IL-10 at the level of mRNA and protein and analyze the correlations of the four factors, the relationships between the four factors, MMP-1/TIMP-1, TNF-α/ IL-10 and the severity of clinical symptom of the patients with UC by statistical methods.Results: 1.The expression of the four factors in the ulcerated and inflamed colonic mucosa was significantly higher than those of non-inflamed mucosa and the controls. Among these factors, the expression of MMP-1 and TNF-αin ulcerated areas were significantly...