title: Serum levels of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-6 in patients with chronic pancreatitis.
abstract: To investigate the role played by cytokines in chronic pancreatitis, we examined serum levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 33 patients with definitively diagnosed chronic pancreatitis. All the patients, who had received either no treatment or only digestive enzyme products for their chronic pancreatitis, had significantly elevated serum IL-1 beta levels (38.5 +/- 28.8 pg/ml, mean +/- SD), compared to normal controls (16.0 +/- 6.7 pg/ml; P < 0.01); however they showed no changes in serum IL-6 levels. Changes in IL-1 beta and IL-6 serum levels were not correlated with the etiological features of pancreatitis or with complications due to liver diseases. Serum IL-1 beta and IL-6 levels were also not correlated with the activity of any pancreatic enzymes in blood or urine. However, in the patients with chronic pancreatitis, serum IL-6 levels were correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP), whereas serum IL-1 beta levels were not correlated with CRP or with erythrocyte sedimentation rate. These results suggest that serum IL-1 beta is involved in the progression and reduction of chronic inflammation of the pancreas, and that the serum IL-1 beta level may be useful as a marker for chronic pancreatitis.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bamba
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosoda
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007375:Interleukin-1; D015850:Interleukin-6; D002097:C-Reactive Protein