Last update:
04-Jan-2001

Arch Hellen Med, 17(4), July-August 2000, 377-382

ORIGINAL PAPER

Pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in adult patients with cystic fibrosis

A. PAPAMICHALOPOULOS,¹ S. NANAS,² E. POULIOU,¹ G. PERPATI,¹
I. MAVROU,² E. PAPA,³ I. ECONOMIDOU,³ K. KARMANIOLAS,¹ C. ROUSSOS^2
1Adult Cystic Fibrosis Outpatient Clinic, Athens Chest Hospital
²Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Evgenidio Hospital, University of Athens
³Department of Immunology & Histocombatibility, “Evangelismos” General Hospital, Athens, Greece

OBJECTIVE Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterised by an abnormal inflammatory response and frequent pulmonary infections. The aim of this study was to compare the levels of proinflammatory cytokine (TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8) in adult patients with CF and those of healthy subjects and to investigate the relation of proinflammatory cytokine levels to the severity of the disease.
METHOD The study population comprised 19 patients (10 males and 9 females, aged 23±12 years) and 9 healthy subjects (3 males and 8 females, aged 30±4 years). Serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines were measured by a sensitive ELISA method. The severity of the disease was assessed by FEV₁ and Schwachman’s score.
RESULTS Statistically significantly higher proinflammatory cytokine levels were found in the patients with CF in comparison to those of the healthy subjects: TNFα: 4.0±1.8 (pg/mL) vs 1.7±0.9 (pg/mL), P<0.001, IL-1β: 0.5±0.9 (pg/mL) vs 0.2±0.1 (pg/mL), P=ns, IL-6: 3.4±3.1 (pg/mL) vs 0.9±0.8 (pg/mL), P<0.003, IL-8: 5.5±4.7 (pg/mL) vs 2.6±0.5 (pg/mL), P<0.029, respectively. The IL-6 levels were significantly higher in patients colonized by Pseudomonas than in those who were non colonized (4.9±3.3 vs 1.4±1.5, P<0.009). No statistically significant correlation of disease severity and proinflammatory cytokine levels was detected.
CONCLUSIONS The study findings are indicative of the presence of inflammation in every phase of the disease independent of its severity.

Key words: Cystic fibrosis, Cytokines, Inflammation.