Abstract Background Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory bowel disease for which reliable non-invasive markers of endoscopic and histological activity are still needed. Given that histological healing predicts better outcomes and helps prevent relapse, we examined whether serum oncostatin M (OSM) could serve as a useful biomarker of UC severity. Methods A total of 89 UC eligible participants (≥18 years) had a confirmed diagnosis of UC based on criteria in accordance with the ECCO guidelines. For all included patients, we collected data on disease extension (Montreal classification: E1 proctitis, E2 left-side colitis, E3 pancolitis), endoscopic activity (Mayo endoscopic score (MES): 0-3), and histological activity (Nancy Histological Index (NHI): 0-4). Serum samples were collected from all UC patients, whether in remission or experiencing active disease. Fecal calprotectin (FC) was determined by ELISA test and was collected before bowel preparation. Blood for OSM was collected in serum (no-gel or K2-EDTA) tubes, processed within 1–2 h, and plasma aliquots were extracted via centrifugation (1000 ×g, 20 min, 18 °C). The resulting plasma aliquots in cryovials were stored at − 80 °C for periods ranging from 3 to 11 months. A Human OSM ELISA Kit (E-EL-H2247) was used for the colorimetric detection and quantification of serum OSM, with concentrations measured in pg/mL. The IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 software was used for the statistical processing. Results In our study, statistical analysis showed that patients with pancolitis had significantly higher serum OSM levels than those with left-sided colitis (p = 0.001). Serum OSM demonstrated a significant positive correlation with endoscopic activity, with a moderate positive relationship between these two variables, serum OSM values and MES, r(87) = 0.422, p 0.001. Correlation analysis between serum OSM and histological healing revealed a significant positive association between OSM levels and the NHI, r(87) = 0.506, p 0.001, indicating a strong positive relationship between the two variables. Moreover, Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses demonstrated that OSM had excellent diagnostic accuracy for active disease, particularly in relation to histological inflammation (AUC = 0.967), whereas FC showed good but slightly lower accuracy (AUC = 0.875). Conclusion Serum OSM is strongly associated with histological activity in UC and demonstrates superior performance compared with FC in assessing histological remission. OSM concentration may serve as a non-invasive marker in UC management, particularly useful for identifying histological remission, monitoring disease progression, and treatment response. Conflict of interest: Dr. Alina-Ecaterina, Jucan: No conflict of interest Sarbu, Georgiana-Elena: No conflict of interest Mihai, Vasile-Claudiu: No conflict of interest Atodiresei, Carmen: No conflict of interest Juncu, Simona: No conflict of interest Mihai, Ioana-Ruxandra: No conflict of interest Dranga, Mihaela: No conflict of interest Nedelciuc, Otilia: No conflict of interest Drug, Vasile: No conflict of interest Cijevschi Prelipcean, Cristina: No conflict of interest Mihai, Catalina: No conflict of interest
Alina-Ecaterina et al. (Thu,) studied this question.