Level of serum apolipoprotein m and its diagnostic significance in inflammatory bowel disease

Our study has investigated the level of serum apolipoprotein M (apoM) and its clinical significance in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients. In this study, serum apoM and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) levels in newly diagnosed IBD patients (n = 101) and healthy individuals (n = 69) were measured by ELISA. Serum apoM levels in Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn’s Disease (CD) groups were found to be 13.5 ± 8.8 μg/ml and 10.2 ± 5.8 μg/ml respectively, compared with 2.0 ± 1.3 μg/ml in the control group. The expression of apoM in the UC group was significantly higher than the CD group (P < 0.05); however, its clinical significance needs to be further investigated. Interestingly, serum apoM concentrations in both UC and CD patients elevated with increasing disease activity in active period of IBD (P < 0.05). The levels of TNF-α were found to be 2.73 ± 1.68 pg/ml, 2.20 ± 1.64 pg/ml and 0.90 ± 2.03 pg/ml in the UC, CD and control groups, respectively. In addition, a positive correlation was found between the serum concentrations of apoM and TNF-α (γ = 0.314, P = 0.001); particularly, a significant correlation was obtained for the CD group (γ = 0.365, P = 0.010). Our results demonstrate that serum apoM levels were significantly higher in the IBD patients compared to the healthy individuals. Therefore, analysis of the apoM levels might serve as a novel diagnostic marker for the assessment of IBD activity.