Adult Still's disease reflects a Th2 rather than a Th1 cytokine profile

• Published in: Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2004-07, Vol.112 (1), p.120-125
• Main Authors: Saiki, Osamu, Uda, Hiroshi, Nishimoto, Norihiko, Miwa, Takashi, Mima, Toru, Ogawara, Tomoharu, Azuma, Naoto, Katada, Yoshinori, Sawaki, Junko, Tsutsui, Hiroko, Matsui, Kiyoshi, Maeda, Akira, Nakanishi, Kenji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; ASD; Biological and medical sciences; C-Reactive Protein - immunology; CRP; Cytokine; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Humans; IL-13; IL-18; IL-4; IL-6; Immunopathology; Interleukin-13 - blood; Interleukin-13 - immunology; Interleukin-18 - blood; Interleukin-18 - immunology; Interleukin-4 - blood; Interleukin-4 - immunology; Kinetics; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Still's Disease, Adult-Onset - blood; Still's Disease, Adult-Onset - immunology; Th1; Th1 Cells - immunology; Th1 Cells - metabolism; Th2; Th2 Cells - immunology; Th2 Cells - metabolism
• ISSN: 1521-6616; 1521-7035
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2004.03.023

Adult Still's disease (ASD) is a chronic multisystemic disease. Extraordinarily high serum levels of IL-18 in ASD patients have been described, whereas the mechanism remains to be clarified. This study aimed to evaluate proinflammatory cytokines and to consider their pathological roles. In patients with rheumatic diseases ( n = 151), blood samples were taken at the active phase and the serum levels of IL-18 and other proinflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA. The extra-high levels of IL-18 were confirmed selectively in ASD patients ( n = 10). In the active phase of ASD patients, the levels of IL-6 were elevated accordingly, but IL-1β and TNF-α were undetectable. As to Th1–Th2 cytokines, the levels of IL-4 and IL-13, but not INF-γ, IL-12, or IL-2, were elevated in all ASD patients examined. Moreover, the serum levels of IL-18 showed a good correlation with those of IL-4, suggesting that ASD reflects a Th2 rather than a Th1 cytokine profile.