Midkine level may be used as a non-invasive biomarker in Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Crohn's disease (CD) is a kind of inflammatory bowel disease. Midkine (MDK) is an endogenous inflammatory marker. We aimed to investigate the relationship between MDK levels and inflammation and hence determine whether MDK can be used as a non-invasive biomarker in active CD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 65 consecutive patients over the age of 18 with CD and 36 healthy controls were included in this study. CD patient venous blood samples were taken before treatment. Serum MDK levels were determined in human plasma samples by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. RESULTS: The mean age of the study patients was 44.8 +/-12.5 years, 35 patients were female and 30 were male. Of these 65 patients, 37 had active CD and 28 were in the remission phase. MDK levels were significantly higher in active and remission CD than healthy controls (p=0.01, p=0.038, respectively). CONCLUSION: We report that there is an association between MDK levels and CD activation, therefore with enhanced inflammation. MDK levels were significantly correlated with inflammatory indices. In line with our findings, we suggest the theory that MDK inhibitors may be useful in treating Crohn?s disease.