Iron Metabolism and Antioxidant Gene Polymorphism in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Remission: Ulcerative Colitis vs. Crohn’s Disease Comparison

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to compare inflammatory and iron metabolism markers, as well as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in antioxidant genes, in pediatric patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical remission. Methods A total of 86 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients (58 CD, 28 UC) were enrolled. Electrophoresis, commercial kits based on ELISA and spectrophotometry were used to measure planned parameters. Results Despite clinical remission, CD patients exhibited elevated hsCRP and fecal calprotectin levels, indicating subclinical inflammation. CD patients also had significantly lower serum iron and transferrin levels compared to UC patients, with reductions in all iron metabolism parameters. In CD, hsCRP correlated positively with calprotectin and negatively with serum iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin, and transferrin saturation. Calprotectin positively correlated with body mass index (BMI). The Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Activity Index positively correlated with hsCRP and calprotectin but negatively with serum iron and transferrin saturation. In UC, hsCRP negatively correlated with serum iron and transferrin saturation. SNPs in antioxidant genes ( CAT , GPX , PON1 , SOD1 ) showed no significant genotype frequency differences between CD and UC groups. However, CAT rs1001179 C/C was most common, GPX rs1050450 exhibited a non-significant trend of reduced activity in C/T heterozygotes in UC, and PON1 rs662 T (Q) allele predominated. Conclusion CD pediatric patients in remission exhibited more pronounced iron metabolism abnormalities and inflammatory marker correlations than UC patients.