Emerging Role of Long Non-Coding RNA TDRG1 and ETV4 mRNA as potential biomarkers in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Background and aim: Despite progress in understanding inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)’s etiology, its precise molecular foundations remain poorly understood, limiting the efficacy of existing therapies. Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as crucial regulatory molecules influencing immune responses and inflammatory pathways in IBD. The objective of this study was to assess the expression levels of lncRNA TDRG1 and ETV4 mRNA as potential markers for distinguishing ulcerative colitis (UC) from Crohn's disease (CD). Methods This case control research has 120 individuals divided into three groups: 40 patients with UC, 40 with CD, and 40 healthy controls. Patients were then divided into active and inactive subgroups, based on clinical, laboratory and endoscopic parameters. The expression levels of lncRNA TDRG1 and ETV4 mRNA were measured using real time qPCR. Results Plasma levels of the lncRNAs TDRG1 and ETV4 mRNA were significantly higher in the UC and CD groups than in the controls, as well as in UC patients compared to CD patients. Moreover, active CD patients showed significantly higher values than inactive group, while the expression levels in active UC patients were higher than inactive group but not statistically significant. Conclusion This study revealed that plasma lncRNA TDRG1 and ETV4 mRNA are valuable indicators of IBD. Moreover, their satisfactory performance in differentiating active CD from inactive one could suggest their use as promising reliable tools for early detection of active CD thus facilitating prompt intervention and potentially improving patient outcomes.