C‐reactive protein/albumin ratio and IL‐6 are associated with disease activity in patients with ulcerative colitis

BACKGROUND: Cytokines are key mediators of the inflammation in ulcerative colitis (UC); there are inconsistent data on cytokines profile in patients with UC. C‐reactive protein/albumin ratio (CRP/ALB) has also been found as an inflammatory indicator. However, the role of CRP/ALB in UC remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the CRP/ALB ratio and cytokines profile in patients with UC. We further explore the association between CRP/ALB and inflammatory markers, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), fecal calprotectin (FC) and cytokines. METHODS: One hundred thirty UC patients and 65 controls were included in the study. Clinical and laboratory findings were retrospectively reviewed; differences in variables between two groups were examined using the Mann–Whitney U‐test. The association between CRP/ALB, cytokines, and clinical parameters was determined by Spearman's correlation test. RESULTS: CRP/ALB levels were significantly elevated in active UC patients. The optimal cutoff level of the CRP/ALB was 0.083. The patients with active UC had a median interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) level of 7.715 pg/ml (interquartile ranges, IQR 3.475–14.63), which was significantly higher than those in remission (2.95 pg/ml, IQR 2.17–5.44) (p < 0.001). Positive correlations between CRP/ALB and inflammatory markers were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CRP/ALB and IL‐6 could be potential biomarkers for assessment of clinical activity in Chinese patients with UC.