title: Quantification of proinflammatory cytokines in the urine of congestive heart failure patients. Its relationship with plasma levels.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación, Hospital La Fe, Av. de Campanar, 21, 46009 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sirera
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salvador
authors.forename: Ildefonso
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roldán
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Talens
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: González-Molina
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rivera
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha