Cytokines serum levels as the markers of thyroid activation in Graves' disease

• Published in: Immunology letters 1998-02, Vol.60 (2), p.143-148
• Main Authors: Komorowski, Jan, Jankiewicz, Joanna, Robak, Tadeusz, Błasińska-Morawiec, Maria, Stępień, Henryk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Anti-thyroid antibodies; Biomarkers; Cytokines; Cytokines - blood; Female; Free thyroid hormones; Graves Disease - blood; Graves Disease - physiopathology; Graves' disease; Humans; Interleukin-10 - blood; Interleukin-2 - blood; Interleukin-6 - blood; Middle Aged; Receptors, Interleukin-2 - blood; Receptors, Interleukin-6 - blood; Thyroid Gland - physiopathology; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - analysis
• ISSN: 0165-2478; 1879-0542
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-2478(97)00151-X

In order to examine which cytokine could be used as a marker of the biological effect of thyroid hormones or anti-thyroid antibodies in Graves' disease (GD) patients, we simultaneously evaluated the concentrations of TSH, free thyroid hormones (fT 3 and fT 4), anti-thyroid antibodies (anti-TPO and anti-TG) and a group of cytokines: interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumour necrosis factor α (TNF α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and their soluble receptors (sIL-2R, sTNF αR, sIL-6R) as well as interleukin-10 (IL-10) in eight GD females and nine normal controls. We found that serum sIL-2R concentrations of GD patients had only the tendency to be higher versus controls, but strong positive correlations between fT 3 and fT 4 and sIL-2R in peripheral blood of GD subjects were revealed. We showed that sIL-2R was the best cytokine marker, showing very good correlation with the endocrine status of GD patients.