{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T09:04:11Z","timestamp":1779786251344,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779753600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>NDRG1 protein engages with the orphan nuclear receptor NR4A1, effectively suppressing the transcriptional activity of NF-\u03baB and influencing the inflammatory response. However, the specific roles of the NDRG family and NR4A transcription factors in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remain poorly defined, particularly regarding potential differential mechanisms between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn\u2019s disease (CD). We hypothesize that NDRG\u2013NR4A interactions are differentially regulated in UC versus CD, contributing to disease-specific modulation of NF-\u03baB signaling and inflammatory responses. Therefore, the aim was to analyze gene and protein expression of both protein families (NDRGs: NDRG1, NDRG2, NDRG3, and NDRG4; and NR4A: NR4A1, NR4A2, and NR4A3), their contributions to UC and CD, and their association with disease severity. In this cross-sectional and comparative study, we assess gene and protein expression of NR4A and NDRG1-4 in 38 UC patients, 10 CD patients, and 18 controls. Gene and protein expression levels were measured by RT-PCR (mucosa) and immunohistochemistry (colonic tissue), respectively. The colonic mucosa from remission UC patients showed upregulation of NDRG2 and the nuclear receptor genes NR4A1-3 compared with controls. NDRG4 was upregulated in active UC patients compared with controls. NDRG1 was downmodulated in active and remission UC patients compared with controls. All differences were statistically significant (p &lt; 0.05). Decreased NR4A2 gene expression was associated with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (p = 0.030) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels (p = 0.001). Our results provide the first evidence of differential alterations in the NDRG\u2013NR4A axis in UC and CD, which could modulate NF \u03baB signaling and the inflammatory profile differently in each disease, opening the possibility of new therapeutic options.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27114769","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T08:16:08Z","timestamp":1779783368000},"page":"4769","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Differential Expression Profiles of Orphan Nuclear Receptors (NR4A) and N-myc Downstream-Regulated Gene Family (NDRG) in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7489-2596","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gabriela","family":"Fonseca-Camarillo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic, Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"},{"name":"Department of Immunology, Instituto Nacional de Cardiolog\u00eda, Ignacio Ch\u00e1vez, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5804-7221","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janette","family":"Furuzawa-Carballeda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Surgery, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"},{"name":"School of Medicine, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City 03920, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Aguilar-Le\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rafael","family":"Barreto-Zu\u00f1iga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Endoscopy, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Braulio","family":"Mart\u00ednez-Ben\u00edtez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jes\u00fas K.","family":"Yamamoto-Furusho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic, Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas y Nutrici\u00f3n Salvador Zubir\u00e1n, Mexico City 14080, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1627","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(07)60750-8","article-title":"Inflammatory bowel disease: Cause and immunobiology","volume":"369","author":"Baumgart","year":"2007","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"123","article-title":"The diagnosis and treatment of Crohn\u2019s disease and ulcerative colitis","volume":"106","author":"Baumgart","year":"2009","journal-title":"Dtsch. 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