Gene expression of tumor necrosis factor receptor associated-factor (TRAF)-1 and TRAF-2 in inflammatory bowel disease

Objective This study aimed to investigate the expression of tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor (TRAF)-1 and TRAF-2 in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods Immunostaining, western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to detect the expression of TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 in colonic mucosa of IBD patients and control. Furthermore, serum protein levels of TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 were measured by ELISA and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine their diagnostic value. Results The expression of TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 was significantly higher in inflamed and non-inflamed tissues of IBD patients than those in control (P<0.05). Moreover, inflamed tissues had higher TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 expression than non-inflamed tissues (P<0.05). Both TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 were shown to have a fair to excellent value in the differentiation of control and IBD patients with the area under the ROC curve (AUROC) of 0.6801.000 (P<0.001). Conclusion The activation of TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 may be early events in the pathogenesis of IBD and their functions are not quite the same.