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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the role of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in the determination of disease activity and response to treatment in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Background IBDs are among the most important gastrointestinal diseases. Confirmation of the diagnosis and detection of disease activity mostly entails utilization of invasive procedures. NGAL is a protein mainly secreted by neutrophils. Previously, in IBD, overexpression of NGAL in colon epithelium has been shown. Patient and methods This study was conducted on 35 naive patients with clinical, laboratory, endoscopic, and histopathological findings of active IBD, including active ulcerative colitis (UC) and active Crohn's disease (CD), and the same patients of the first group while on remission by medical therapy. In addition, 20 non-IBD patients were enrolled as the control group. Patients and controls were subjected to laboratory investigations, abdominal ultrasound, lower gastrointestinal endoscopy, and biopsy taking for histopathology and quantitative measurement of serum NGAL using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results There was a highly significant elevation of serum NGAL in active IBD patients (active UC and active CD) (P < 0.001) compared with inactive IBD patients (inactive UC and inactive CD) and the control group. In addition, there was a highly significant elevation of serum NGAL in inactive IBD patients (P < 0.001) when compared with the control group. Serum NGAL correlated positively with inflammatory markers, UC activity index, histopathological activity, and clinical CD activity index. Conclusion Serum NGAL is valuable noninvasive marker in the assessment of IBD patients regarding disease activity and response to treatment.

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