Expression analysis of IL-2, TBX21 and SOCS1 in peripheral blood cells of celiac disease patients reveals the diagnostic potential of IL-2

• Published in: Molecular biology reports Vol. 50; no. 6; pp. 4841 - 4849
• Main Authors: Ganjali, Fatemeh, Asri, Nastaran, Rostami-Nejad, Mohammad, Hashemi, Mehrdad, Ainy, Elaheh, Masotti, Andrea, Asadzadeh Aghdaei, Hamid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Anatomy; Animal Biochemistry; Aphthous stomatitis; biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; blood; Blood Cells; Celiac disease; Celiac Disease - diagnosis; Celiac Disease - genetics; Child; Cytokines - metabolism; Gene expression; Genes; gluten; Histology; Humans; Interleukin 2; Interleukin-2 - genetics; Interleukin-2 - metabolism; Life Sciences; Morphology; Original Article; Pathogenesis; patients; Pediatrics; Peripheral blood; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; RNA; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Stomatitis; Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1 Protein - genetics; Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1 Protein - metabolism; Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins; Celiac Disease; Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 1 protein; T-box transcription factor; Interleukin-2; Gluten; T-box transcription factor TBX21
• ISSN: 0301-4851; 1573-4978; 1573-4978
• DOI: 10.1007/s11033-023-08394-5

Background Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated enteropathy and a cytokine network is involved in its pathogenesis. Interleukin-2 ( IL-2 ) has a key role in the adaptive immune pathogenesis of CD and has been reported to be one of the earliest cytokines to be elicited after gluten exposure by CD patients. This study aimed at investigating the expression level of IL-2 and functionally related genes SOCS1 and TBX21 in active and treated CD patients compared to controls. Methods and results Peripheral blood (PB) samples were collected from 40 active CD (ACD), 100 treated CD, and 100 healthy subjects. RNA was extracted, cDNA was synthesized and mRNA expression levels of the desired genes were investigated by Real-time PCR. The gene–gene interaction network was also constructed by GeneMANIA. Our results showed a higher PB mRNA expression of IL-2 in ACD patients compared to controls (p = 0.001) and treated CD patients (p˂0.0001). The mRNA expression level of TBX21 was also significantly up-regulated in ACD patients compared to controls (P = 0.03). SOCS1 mRNA level did not differ between active and treated CD patients and controls (p˃0.05) but showed a significant correlation with the patient’s aphthous stomatitis symptom (r = 0.37, p = 0.01). ROC curve analysis suggested that the use of IL-2 levels can reach a high specificity and sensitivity in discriminating active CD patients. Conclusions The PB level of IL-2 has the potential to be introduced as a diagnostic biomarker for CD. Larger cohort studies, including pediatric patients, are needed to achieve more insights in this regard.