title: Cytokines in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis.
abstract: Numerous cytokines are thought to be important in the pathogenesis of granulomatous inflammation and subsequent fibrosis in sarcoidosis. Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, two recently described cytokines with a broad spectrum of proinflammatory effects, could participate in this disease. We obtained bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from 16 subjects (13 African-American, three Caucasian) with untreated active pulmonary sarcoidosis and 10 healthy nonsmoking volunteers (nine Caucasian, one African-American). Concentrated BALF was analyzed by an ELISA for IL-6, IL-8, and albumin. The median IL-6 level was 9.8 pg/mg albumin (range, 0-278) for the sarcoid group compared with 0.14 pg/mg (range, 0.14-9.8) in the control subjects (p = 0.001). The corresponding values for IL-8 were 202 pg/mg (range, 35-2179) versus 5.0 pg/mg (range, 0-44) in the control subjects (p < 0.001). Among the sarcoid patients, BALF IL-6 and IL-8 levels correlated with each other (r = 0.96, p < 0.001), and both cytokines correlated with the BALF neutrophil percentage (r = 0.96 and 0.95, respectively; p < 0.001 for both). No difference was detected in IL-8 concentrations as measured by ELISA in culture supernatants of alveolar macrophages obtained from five sarcoid patients and five control subjects. We conclude that IL-6 and IL-8 are elevated in BALF of patients with active sarcoidosis and may be important modulators of the disease process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Henry Ford Health Sciences Center, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Girgis
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Basha
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maliarik
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Popovich
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Iannuzzi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000418:Albumins / Q000032:analysis*; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000032:analysis*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000032:analysis*; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D017565:Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8