title: Monocyte and blood interleukin-12 levels in patients with obstructive jaundice.
abstract: Patients with obstructive jaundice have an increased incidence of peri-operative complications and immune dysfunction. This study was to investigate interleukin (IL)-12 (a cellular immunity stimulant), levels in jaundiced patients. 23 jaundiced patients and 17 controls were studied. There was significantly increased monocyte IL-12 production in jaundice, as measured by an ELISA, compared with that in controls (p < 0.01 by Mann-Whitney U test). A similar increase is seen in both benign and malignant jaundice. There was no difference between plasma IL-12 levels in the two groups. It is concluded that in jaundice, monocytes have a significantly increased capacity to release IL-12. This suggests that IL-12 may play a role in the immune dysfunction in jaundiced patients.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Surgery, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Puntis
mesh_terms: D002779:Cholestasis / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018664:Interleukin-12