Quantification of proinflammatory cytokines in the urine of congestive heart failure patients. Its relationship with plasma levels.
OBJECTIVE
Proinflammatory cytokines are important mediators for the development of heart failure and increased plasma levels of these cytokines have been reported in patients with this condition. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether urine, a non-invasively obtained biological sample, was an appropriate medium in which to measure the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients in the advanced stages of the disease.


RESULTS
Thirty consecutive patients who had severe congestive heart failure (NYHA classes III and IV) and 30 matched healthy control subjects were enrolled. Plasma and the first urine of the day were collected and TNF-alpha and IL-6 were quantitatively analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. For every subject there were no differences in the amount of cytokine determined in plasma and urine. Both urine and plasma levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha were greater in heart failure patients than in controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that plasmatic and urinary levels of proinflammatory cytokines did not differ significantly. Thus, urine may be a good milieu in which to study these cytokines and may have diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic implications.
Sirera
Rafael
R
Centro de Investigación, Hospital La Fe, Av. de Campanar, 21, 46009 Valencia, Spain.
Salvador
Antonio
A
Roldán
Ildefonso
I
Talens
Raquel
R
González-Molina
Andrés
A
Rivera
Miguel
M
D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha