Soluble CD163 (sCD163) is a selective marker of macrophages whose circulating levels have been found to be
induced in patients with active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Urinary proteins are emerging as non-invasive
diagnostic biomarkers, and here, sCD163 levels were measured in the urine of 18 controls and 63 patients with
IBD by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Urinary sCD163 levels did, however, not differentiate IBD patients
from controls. Analysis of sCD163 in the serum of 51 of these patients did not show higher levels in IBD. Primary
sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is often associated with IBD, and sCD163 was higher in the urine of the 21 patients
and in the serum of the 13 patients with PSC compared to patients with IBD. Of clinical relevance, urinary
sCD163 levels were higher in PSC patients compared to those with other chronic liver diseases (n = 16), while
serum sCD163 levels were comparable between the two groups. Serum sCD163 of IBD and PSC patients positively
correlated with serum C-reactive protein. Serum creatinine and glomerular filtration rate, surrogate
markers for renal function, did not significantly correlate with urinary or serum sCD163 levels in IBD or PSC
patients. Moreover, urinary sCD163 was not related to fecal calprotectin levels whereas serum sCD163 of IBD
patients showed a positive trend. PSC associated with IBD and PSC without underlying IBD had similar levels of
urinary sCD163 while serum sCD163 tended to be higher in the latter group. In PSC patients, urinary sCD163 did
not correlate with serum aminotransferase levels, gamma glutamyl transferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin or
the Model for End Stage Liver Disease score. Ursodeoxycholic acid was prescribed to our PSC patients and fecal
levels of ursodeoxycholic acid and its conjugated forms were increased in PSC compared to IBD patients.
Otherwise, fecal bile acid levels of IBD and PSC patients were almost identical, and were not correlated with
urinary and serum sCD163 in PSC. In summary, our study identified urinary sCD163 as a potential biomarker for
PSC.