A Th1 but not a Th17 response is present in the gastrointestinal involvement of Behçet's disease.
OBJECTIVE
Behçet's disease has been historically classified as a Th1 disease. The recently described IL-17/IL-23 pathway seems to play an important role in many inflammatory diseases and in the intestinal abnormalities of AS and CD. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the IL-17/IL-23 axis in parallel with Th1 and IL-27 response in the intestine of patients with BD and gastrointestinal abnormalities.


METHODS
Quantitative TaqMan reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was utilised for all determinations on ileal biopsy specimens obtained from BD, AS and CD patients. The serum levels of Th1 and Th17 cytokines were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.


RESULTS
A Th1 but not a Th17 response is present in the gastrointestinal involvement of Behçet's disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Although BD shares clinical manifestations with both CD and AS, the immunologic abnormalities seen in the intestine are quite different, indicating that other immune mechanisms should be taken into account.
Ferrante
Angelo
A
Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, Palermo University School of Medicine, Palermo, Italy. angelo_ferrante@msn.com
Ciccia
Francesco
F
Principato
Alfonso
A
Giardina
Anna Rita
AR
Impastato
Rosalia
R
Peralta
Sergio
S
Triolo
Giovanni
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007082:Ileum / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000378:metabolism; D053759:Interleukin-23 / Q000378:metabolism; D007378:Interleukins / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D058504:Th17 Cells / Q000473:pathology*
D020381:Interleukin-17; D053759:Interleukin-23; D007378:Interleukins; C464565:MYDGF protein, human