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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 21, 2016; 22(7): 2357-2365
Published online Feb 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i7.2357
Effects of endoplasmic reticulum stress on the expression of inflammatory cytokines in patients with ulcerative colitis
Nan Li, Xue-Ming Wang, Li-Jun Jiang, Meng Zhang, Na Li, Zhen-Zhen Wei, Nan Zheng, Ya-Jiao Zhao
Nan Li, Xue-Ming Wang, Li-Jun Jiang, Meng Zhang, Na Li, Zhen-Zhen Wei, Nan Zheng, Ya-Jiao Zhao, Department of Gastrology, PLA 309 Hospital, Beijing 100091, China
Author contributions: Li N designed the research; Wang XM, Jiang LJ and Zhang M performed the research; Li N contributed new reagents or analytic tools; Wei ZZ, Zheng N and Zhao YJ analyzed data; and Li N wrote the paper.
Supported by Beijing Municipal Natural Scientific Research Foundation, No. 7132175.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Nan Li, Dean, Chief Physician, Doctoral Supervisor, Department of Gastrology, PLA 309 Hospital, No 17 Heishanhujia, Haidian District, Beijing 100091, China. linanforty@163.com
Telephone: +86-10-55473165 Fax: +86-10-66767722
Received: May 24, 2015
Peer-review started: May 25, 2015
First decision: June 25, 2015
Revised: September 5, 2015
Accepted: November 30, 2015
Article in press: November 30, 2015
Published online: February 21, 2016
Processing time: 251 Days and 13.4 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To explore the changes of X-box binding protein 1 splicing (XBP1s) and inflammatory cytokine expression in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in response to endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS).

METHODS: Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed to detect the forms of XBP1s and the expression of interleukin (IL)-2, interferon (IFN)-γ, and IL-17α. Differences between patients with UC and normal subjects were then determined.

RESULTS: Mononuclear cells of the peripheral blood of normal subjects and UC patients with were stimulated with no drugs (control), phytohemagglutinin (PHA), thapsigargin (TG), or both PHA and TG. XBP1s in patients with UC exhibited splicing, which was greater with co-stimulation than single stimulation. Co-stimulation increased the expression level of IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-17α.

CONCLUSION: The T lymphocytes of both normal subjects and patients with UC responded to ERS by activating the XBP1s-mediated signalling pathway, upregulating the expression of inflammatory cytokines, and increasing the occurrence of inflammation. The mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood of patients with UC were more sensitive to ERS than those in the peripheral blood of normal subjects.

Keywords: Ulcerative colitis; Endoplasmic reticulum stress; X-box binding protein 1 splicing

Core tip: Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) can repair stress-induced cell damage and restore normal cell function by the inositol-requiring enzyme 1/X-box binding protein 1 splicing (IRE1/XBP1) signalling pathway. However, the link to ulcerative colitis (UC) remains unclear. In the present study, we report that T lymphocytes respond to ERS by activating the IRE1/XBP1 signalling pathway, upregulating the expression of inflammatory cytokines, and increasing the occurrence of inflammation. In addition, mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood of patients with UC were more sensitive to ERS than normal subjects.