title: [Clinical significance of serum IL-18 determination in rheumatoid arthritis].
abstract: Interleukin (IL)-18 is a novel cytokine expressing at inflammatory lesion. In this study, to evaluate the clinical significance of IL-18 determination, we have examined serum IL-18, inflammation markers, sFas, and sFas-ligand concentrations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA). Serum was obtained from 56 RA patients aged 35-74 years, 16 osteoarthritis (OA) patients aged 36-78 years and 178 healthy subjects aged 20-72 years and IL-18 was measured by ELISA. Serum IL-18 concentrations in RA (240.1 +/- 15.6 pg/ml, mean +/- SE) were significantly higher than OA (151.8 +/- 12.7 pg/ml, p < 0.005) and healthy controls(141.5 +/- 26.1 pg/ml, p < 0.001). Serum IL-18 levels were significantly increased in II to IV stages of RA (stage II; 218.6 +/- 31.2 pg/ml, stage III; 258.7 +/- 38.4 pg/ml, stage IV; 231.6 +/- 13.1 pg/ml) than those in OA. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between serum IL-18 concentration and serum Fas level in patients with RA (r = 0.472), whereas there was no significant correlation between serum IL-18 and sFas-ligand or other inflammatory markers (CRP, RF, CA-RF, IL-6, and IL-8). The present study showed that serum IL-18 level increased in RA, but it is unknown how IL-18 is involved in the pathogenesis of RA. Further study will be necessary to clarify the role of IL-18 in RA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Daiyukai General Hospital, Ichinomiya 491-8551.
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takemura
authors.forename: Ryuki
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shinohe
authors.forename: Hirohisa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koishi
authors.forename: Toshiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seishima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012995:Solubility; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D020382:Interleukin-18; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D019014:fas Receptor