Interleukin‐10 in the Pathophysiology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Increased Serum Concentrations During the Recovery Phase

Using a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, IL-10 concentrations were measured in serum from 62 patients withulcerative colitis (UC), 43 with Crohn's disease (CD), 25 with other colitides, and 44 normalcontrol subjects. Serum IL-10 concentrations were increased in patients withactive UC but not in those with active CD when compared with normal control subjects. A time course studyshowed that in patients with UC and CD, serum concentrations of IL-6 and C-reactive proteinincreased during the acute phase and returned to normal as patients go into remission. Notably,serum IL-10 concentrations increased during the phase of disease resolution and declinedthereafter regardless of the treatment modality. Gel filtration analysis indicated that IL-10circulated predominantly as a dimer. In conclusion, this study shows that serum IL-10 isincreased during disease recovery in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and may be ahelpful marker in monitoring disease status