Observational Study
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World J Gastroenterol. Mar 28, 2025; 31(12): 98174
Published online Mar 28, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i12.98174
Involvement of the NLRP3/IL-1β pathway in activation and effector functions of γδT17 cells in patients with ulcerative colitis
Jing Ma, Feng-Yun Wang, Xu-Dong Tang
Jing Ma, Feng-Yun Wang, Xu-Dong Tang, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100091, China
Author contributions: Ma J performed the statistical analysis and wrote the article; Tang XD and Wang FY reviewed and revised the article.
Supported by China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Outstanding Young Talents (Innovative) Cultivation Project, No. ZZ17-YQ-007; and Special Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82341233.
Institutional review board statement: This clinical protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Xiyuan Hospital (No. 2019XLC003-2).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data is only published in this journal.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xu-Dong Tang, PhD, Institute of Digestive Diseases, Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 16 Inner South Street, Dongzhimen, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100091, China. txdly@sina.com
Received: June 19, 2024
Revised: October 29, 2024
Accepted: December 23, 2024
Published online: March 28, 2025
Processing time: 279 Days and 19.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The interleukin-17 (IL-17) mediated aberrant immune-inflammatory response plays a paramount role in ulcerative colitis (UC). γδT17 cells are one of the critical sources of IL-17, but the role they play in UC remains under debate.

AIM

To clarify the role of γδT17 cells in patients with mild-to-moderate UC.

METHODS

A single-centre observational pragmatic study was conducted on patients with UC who attended the outpatient and inpatient departments of Xiyuan Hospital of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine from September 2020 to December 2022. The research population consisted of two groups of adult patients. The first group consisted of healthy volunteers with no significant abnormalities on colonoscopy, and the other group consisted of patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis. Serum samples from healthy volunteers and patients with UC were collected for the detection of relevant inflammatory factors. Moreover, five colon mucosa samples were randomly selected from each group for testing and analyses.

RESULTS

An increased number of γδT17 cells and hyperactivation of the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3/IL-1β signaling pathway were observed in colonic mucosal tissues from patients with UC.

CONCLUSION

Hyperactivation of the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3/IL-1β signaling pathway promotes the activation of γδT17 cells in colonic mucosal tissues of patients with UC.

Keywords: Ulcerative colitis; Abnormal immune response; γδT17 cells; NLR family pyrin domain containing 3/interleukin-1β pathway; Observational study

Core Tip: The contribution of γδT17 cells in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) is controversial. In this study, serum samples from healthy volunteers and UC patients were analysed for associated inflammatory factors, and five randomly selected colonic mucosal tissue biopsy samples from each group were analysed by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence to clarify the role of γδT17 cells in UC patients. The serum levels of inflammatory factors secreted after γδT17 cell activation were significantly elevated in patients with UC, the expression level of γδT17 cells in colonic mucosal tissues was significantly elevated, and the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3/interleukin-1β signaling pathway was hyperactivated.