Background:
The aim was to determine obestatin and ghrelin serum levels and their ratio in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.
Methods:
We measured the ghrelin and obestatin levels of 31 Crohn's disease patients and 22 patients with ulcerative colitis using a radioimmunoassay method. Circulating levels of the 2 hormones and their ratio were correlated with the disease type and activity, disease localization, and treatment.
Results:
The mean ghrelin value was statistically significantly higher in patients with active disease (402.4 AE 462.6 pg/mL) than in patients in remission (148.2 AE 59.6 pg/mL) P ΒΌ 0.0290, a ΒΌ 0.05, whereas obestatin mean values were not (217.4 AE 59.8 pg/ mL in active disease and 189.0 AE 46.8 pg/mL in patients with inactive disease P ΒΌ 0.0607). When we evaluated the obestatin/ ghrelin ratio between active and inactive disease, it was found that the ratio in active disease was statistically significantly lower (0.8 AE 0.3) than in patients in remission (1.4 AE 0.3) P < 0.001, a ΒΌ 0.05. There is also a statistically significantly correlation between obestatin/ghrelin ratio and disease activity (P < 0,001).
Conclusions: Ghrelin and obestatin seem to play a significant role in IBD pathogenesis. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of these hormones as new biological markers of activity of IBD.