The significance of serum marker levels for assessing the status and prognosis of patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Purpose of the work: to analyze the research performed in the last decade on the study of serum markers used to diagnose inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), differential diagnosis of nosological forms of IBD, to predict the course of the disease, response to ongoing therapy, as well as to predict the recurrence of the disease. Materials and methods. A search was carried out in the text databases “Scopus”, “Web of Science”, “PubMed” using keywords from the literature sources of the last 10 years about blood serum biomarkers used for diagnosis, evaluation of therapeutic efficacy, monitoring of disease activity and evaluation of prognosis in patients with IBD. Results. Information on serological biomarkers of IBD, which are well known and widely used in clinical practice (C-reactive protein), recently discovered biomarkers (cytokines, antibodies and non-coding RNA), as well as recent advances in serological biomarkers (metabolomics, proteomics, oncostatin M, galectins), were analyzed, which are used in various aspects of the diagnosis of IBD. Since intestinal fibrosis significantly affects the prognosis in patients with IBD, data on serum markers of intestinal fibrosis are presented separately. Conclusion. Recently, serum biomarkers in patients with IBD have become the object of close attention, since they are minimally invasive, convenient, and relatively inexpensive than markers in biopsy specimens, other biological fluids, fecal, and respiratory tests. Despite an extensive list of studies conducted over the past 10 years, there are still no ideal serum biomarkers for the diagnosis of IBD. Serum and non-coding RNA profiling techniques are just beginning to develop, but offer great promise for clinical practice. A combination of different biomarkers may be useful to improve the efficiency of IBD diagnosis.