Investigation of oxidative stress levels with nuclear factor eritroid 2 and factor 2 (NRF2) in patients with ulcerative colitis

Introduction and Purpose: Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory disease that progresses with exacerbations and remissions, which involves the colorectal mucosa. Although the etiology is not fully known, genetic, environmental, infectious and immunological factors and oxidative stress are thought as the multifactorial effects. The increase in Nrf2 gene expression due to oxidative stress in patients with UC has been demonstrated in a small number of immunohistochemical studies at tissue level. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the changes in serum Nrf2 and oxidative stress levels in patients with ulcerative colitis. Material and Method: Sixty patients and 20 healthy volunteers who were followed up in Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine Gastroenterology Department between August 2019 and December 2019 were included in our study. History, age, gender, body mass index, sedimentation rate, C reactive protein, hematocrit, albumin levels and Mayo score were recorded. Nrf2 levels in sera were measured by ELISA method, TAS and TOS levels were measured by spectrophotometric method. SPSS 22.0 package program was used in the statistical analysis of the data obtained. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the patient and control groups in terms of serum Nrf2 levels. The mean TAS level in the patient group was statistically significantly lower than that of the control group (p = 0.019), but there was no significant difference between the patient and control groups in terms of TOS level and OSI index. There was no statistically significant difference between disease activity and serum Nrf2, TAS and TOS levels. It was found that as the disease activity increased, hematocrit and albumin values decreased and the ESH and CRP , which are inflammatory markers, increased which showed statistically significance. Discussion and Conclusion: In this study, when serum Nrf2 level, TOS level and OSI were evaluated in terms of both patient and control groups and the patient groups were separated by disease activity, TAS levels were significantly lower in the patient group when compared to the healthy control group. In the light of these data, no clear relationship between the clinical activity of the disease and oxidative stress could be established. There are few data on the oxidative stress and the role of serum Nrf2 in UC etiopathogenesis and activation, and thus more studies are needed. Keywords: Ulcerative colitis, Nrf2, TAS, TOS, Oxidative Stress