Nitric oxide pathway specific gene alterations in inflammatory bowel disease

Studying genes involved in the regulation of inflammation may help to clarify the pathogenesis of IBD. In search of the genes which products are known to be involved in NO signalling and altered in patients with IBD, our present aim was to determine the expression of such genes in CD and UC, respectively. To this end, microarray expression of genes known to be controlled by or which products are involved in NO signalling was studied in biopsies of colonic mucosa from patients and healthy controls. A cohort of inflamed colonic mucosa samples from 20 CD patients and 20 UC patients, as well as 6 control colonic mucosa samples, was used to acquire expression profiles. All of the inflamed samples were analysed individually, while the control samples were pooled and analysed in 4 replicates.