Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2017; 23(8): 1477-1488
Published online Feb 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i8.1477
Different phenotypes of monocytes in patients with new-onset mild acute pancreatitis
Man-Li Zhang, Yan-Fang Jiang, Xin-Rui Wang, Li-Li Ding, Hong-Juan Wang, Qing-Qing Meng, Pu-Jun Gao
Man-Li Zhang, Qing-Qing Meng, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, The Second Part of First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Man-Li Zhang, Yan-Fang Jiang, Xin-Rui Wang, Hong-Juan Wang, Department of Central Laboratory, The Second Part of First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Xin-Rui Wang, Hong-Juan Wang, Pu-Jun Gao, Department of Hepatology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Yan-Fang Jiang, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Li-Li Ding, Department of Intensive Care Unit, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Gao PJ designed the research; Zhang ML, Wang XR and Wang HJ performed the research; Zhang ML, Ding LL and Meng QQ analyzed the data; Zhang ML and Jiang YF wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Human Ethics Committee of the First Hospital of Jilin University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Pu-Jun Gao, MD, PhD, Department of Hepatology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, 71 Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, Jilin Province, China. pujun-gao@163.com
Telephone: +86-431-84808239 Fax: +86-431-84808391
Received: September 30, 2016
Peer-review started: October 8, 2016
First decision: December 19, 2016
Revised: January 13, 2017
Accepted: January 17, 2017
Article in press: January 17, 2017
Published online: February 28, 2017
Abstract
AIM

To evaluate the numbers of different subsets of monocytes and their associations with the values of clinical measures in mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) patients.

METHODS

The study included one group of 13 healthy controls and another group of 24 patients with new-onset MAP. The numbers of different subsets of monocytes were examined in these two groups of subjects by flow cytometry. The concentrations of plasma interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12 were determined by cytometric bead array. The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores of individual patients were evaluated, and the levels of plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) as well as the activities of amylase and lipase were measured.

RESULTS

In comparison with that in the controls, significantly increased numbers of CD14+CD163-, CD14+CD163-MAC387+ M1 monocytes, but significantly reduced numbers of CD14+CD163+IL-10+ M2 monocytes were detected in the MAP patients (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). Furthermore, significantly higher levels of plasma IL-10 and IL-12 were observed in the MAP patients (P < 0.01 for all). More importantly, the levels of plasma CRP were positively correlated with the numbers of CD14+CD163- (R = 0.5009, P = 0.0127) and CD14+CD163-MAC387+ (R = 0.5079, P = 0.0113) M1 monocytes and CD14+CD163+CD115+ M2 monocytes (R = 0.4565, P = 0.0249) in the patients. The APACHE II scores correlated with the numbers of CD14+CD163+CD115+ (R = 0.4581, P = 0.0244) monocytes and the levels of plasma IL-10 (R = 0.4178, P = 0.0422) in the MAP patients. However, there was no significant association among other measures tested in this population.

CONCLUSION

Increased numbers of CD14+CD163- and CD14+ CD163-MAC387+ monocytes may contribute to the pathogenesis of MAP, and increased numbers of CD14+CD163+CD115+ monocytes may be a biomarker for evaluating the severity of MAP.

Keywords: Mild acute pancreatitis, Monocyte, Cytokine, Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II score, C-reactive protein

Core tip: This is the first study on the numbers of different phenotypes of peripheral blood monocytes in patients with new-onset mild acute pancreatitis (MAP). Increased numbers of CD14+CD163- and CD14+CD163-MAC387+ M1 monocytes were positively correlated with the levels of plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), which suggest that pro-inflammatory monocytes may participate in the pathogenesis of MAP. The increased numbers of CD14+CD163+CD115+ M2 monocytes were positively correlated with the plasma CRP levels and the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II scores, suggesting that the numbers of CD14+CD163+CD115+ monocytes may be a valuable biomarker for evaluating the severity of MAP. Our findings may provide new insights into the pathogenic process and immunoregulation of MAP.