BACKGROUND:
Recently, mesenteric fat has been proposed to play a role in the pathophysiology of Crohn's disease (CD), as fat hypertrophy is detected close to the affected intestinal area; however, there are few studies regarding autophagy and creeping fat tissue in CD.
OBJECTIVE:
Evaluate autophagy-related proteins and proinflammatory cytokines in intestinal mucosa and mesenteric fat in patients with CD and controls.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
Ten patients with CD, eight with non-inflammatory disease who underwent surgery, and eight with normal ileocolonoscopy were studied. The expression of LC3-II, TNF-α and IL-23 was determined by immunoblot of protein extracts. In addition, total RNA of LC3 and Atg16-L1 were determined using RT-PCR.
RESULTS:
The expression of LC3-II was significantly lower in the mesenteric tissue of CD when compared to controls (p < 0.05). In contrast, the intestinal mucosa of the CD group had higher levels of LC3-II (p < 0.05). However, mRNA expression of autophagy-related proteins was similar when compared to mesenteric fat groups. TNF-α and IL-23 expressions were higher in intestinal mucosa of CD than in control (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
These findings suggest a defect in the autophagic activity of the creeping fat tissue in CD, which could be involved with the maintenance of the inflammatory process in the intestinal mucosa.
Crohn's disease; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Autophagy; Cytokines; Mesenteric fat
