Background:

MicroRNAs have been under the spotlight as a potential noninvasive convenient diagnostic and monitoring tool as well as aiding diagnosis whenever endoscopic diagnosis is debatable.

Design and methods:

This case–control study recruited 35 ulcerative colitis (UC), 34 Crohn's disease (CD) and 30 healthy controls. Careful clinical assessment, routine laboratory workup and colonoscopy were conducted to confirm the diagnosis and assess disease severity. A blood sample was collected for the quantification of miRNA 106a and miRNA 146b-5p.

Results:

There was significantly increased expression of both serum markers in the UC group (p = 0.001) and a trend increase in miRNA 106a and a decrease in miRNA 146b-5p expression with activity. A significantly increased expression of miRNA 146b-5p (p = 0.001), but significantly decreased expression of miRNA 106a (p = 0.001) was found in the CD group with a trend decrease in serum miRNA 106a and an increase in miRNA 146b-5p expression with activity. A significant different expression of both biomarkers was found between UC and CD (p = 0.001 and 0.007 for miRNA 106a and miRNA 146b-5p respectively).

Conclusions:

miRNA 106a and miRNA 146b-5p may be promising serum biomarkers for the diagnosis of patients with IBD and differentiation between UC and CD.