Clinical and Biochemical Assessment of Serum Caspase-1 and Interleukin-1β Levels in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the colon characterized by immunological dysregulation and mucosal destruction. The other pathway that is also relevant in terms of disease pathogenesis is the inflammasome pathway. The development of the powerful pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β, a crucial modulator of gut inflammation, requires the enzyme caspase-1.

Objective: Caspase-1 and IL-1β blood levels in ulcerative colitis patients should be measured in order to correlate the levels of these biomarkers.

Methods: A case-control research included 45 ulcerative colitis patients and 45 healthy controls who were matched for sex and age. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the Serum Levels of Caspase-1 and IL-1β. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis. The independent sample t-test was used to assess group differences, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used where applicable to assess correlations. A P-value of less than 0.05 was deemed statistically significant.

Results: UC patients had substantially higher serum Caspase-1 concentrations (4.90 ± 0.375 ng/mL) than controls (2.410 ± 0.633 ng/mL) (p = 0.025). Likewise, UC showed greater levels of IL-1β than controls (49.61 ± 5.12 vs 27.81 ± 3.19 pg/mL, p = 0.004). Caspase-1 and IL-1β from UC patients showed a good correlation (r=0.538; p=0.001).

Conclusion: High serum vacuoles-1 and IL-1β levels and their enhanced correlation are indicative of increased inflammasome activation in ulcerative colitis These biomarkers may represent meaningful indicators of disease activity in UC.