A galectin-specific signature delineates Crohn´s disease and ulcerative colitis from other human inflammatory intestinal disorders

BONDAR, C; RUMBO, M; SAMBUELLI, A.; PAPA GOBBI, R; MUGLIA C.I.; ROCCA, A; DE FRANCESCO, N; RABINOVICH, G.; CHIRDO, F; TOSCANO, M.; DOCENA, G.

BIOFACTORS

IOS PRESS

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 42 p. 93 - 105

0951-6433

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic and relapsing inflammatory conditionsof the gastrointestinal tract including Crohn´s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).Galectins, defined by shared consensus amino acid sequence and affinity for β-galactosides, are critical modulators of the inflammatory response. However, therelevance of the galectin network in the pathogenesis of human IBD has not yet beenexplored. Here, we analyzed the expression of relevant members of the galectin familyin intestinal biopsies, and identified their contribution as novel mucosal markers in IBD.Colonic biopsies were obtained from 59 IBD patients (22 CD and 37 UC), 9 patientswith gut rejection after transplantation, 8 adult celiac patients and 32 non-IBD donors.Galectin mRNA expression was analyzed by RT-PCR and qPCR using specific primersfor individual galectins. A linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used to analyzegalectin expression in individual intestinal samples.Expression of common mucosal-associated galectins (Gal-1, -3, -4, -9) is dysregulatedin inflamed tissues of IBD patients compared with non-inflamed IBD or controlsamples. LDA discriminated between different inflammation grades in active IBD andshowed that remission IBD samples were clusterized with control samples. Galectinprofiling could not distinguish CD and UC. Furthermore, inflamed IBD wasdiscriminated from inflamed tissue of rejected gut in transplanted patients andduodenum of celiac patients, which could not be distinguished from control duodenumsamples.The integrative analysis of galectins discriminated IBD from other intestinalinflammatory conditions and could be used as potential mucosal biomarker.