Comparative analysis of the immune landscape of the colon mucosa in diverticular disease

Introduction. Diverticular disease is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases. It is asymptomatic in 75% of patients. In 15% of cases, complications may arise requiring emergency surgery, whereas in the remaining 10%, the disease is chronic. In elective surgery, postoperative mortality rate is less than 2%, while in emergency operations it reaches 20%. The disease affects the quality of life of patients, most of whom undergo emergency operations followed by colostomy formation. Thus, it is extremely important to determine predictors of complicated diverticular disease for timely diagnosis, adequate routing, and effective treatment. We aimed to assess the local immunity of the colon mucosa in patients with diverticular disease of different courses and to identify the features of the immune landscape in complicated diverticular disease. Materials and methods. We assessed the qualitative composition of the mucosal immune system in surgical samples from 68 patients who underwent left hemicolectomy. Results. The number of CD4+, CD8+, and C138+ immune cells differed in all compared groups, and the number of CD56+ and CD68+ cells differed in groups with and without diverticular disease (p<0.05). Conclusion. The data demonstrate significant differences in the qualitative composition of immunocompetent cells of the colon mucosa in patients with and without diverticular disease, which indicates the role of local immunity in the pathogenesis of complicated diverticular disease. Keywords: diverticular disease, complicated course, local immunity, immune landscape