Background: Acute appendicitis (AA) is one of the major causes of acute abdomen pain. Various laboratory markers have been studied for diagnosis of AA, but none of them have shown superiority to physical examination or imaging. GCP-2/CXCL6 is a chemokine expressed by macrophages and epithelial and mesenchymal cells during inflammation. The present study aims to investigate the diagnostic role of GCP-2/CXCL6 in AA patients.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the serum level of GCP-2/CXCL6 was measured in 56 AA patients and 32 healthy control subjects. Also, hs-CRP and white blood cell count (WBC) levels of the patient and control groups were evaluated.
Results: GCP-2/CXCL-6, hs-CRP and WBC levels of the AA group were significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05 for all comparisons). Among AA group, GCP-2/CXCL6 levels were higher in complex AA (gangrenous, abscess and perforation) ones when compared to non-complex AA (p<0.05). A strong positive correlation was found between GCP-2/CXCL6 levels and hs-CRP levels (r=0.756, p=0.003) and a moderate positive correlation between GCP-2/CXCL6 levels and WBC count (r=0.468, p=0.003).
Conclusion: GCP-2/CXCL6 can be a useful marker in AA diagnosis and discrimination of complex cases, especially if combined with other laboratory markers and imaging techniques.