Levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and its soluble receptor (sIL-6R) in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) patients and their first degree relatives.
OBJECTIVE
Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a hereditary disease characterized by recurrent inflammatory attacks. A subclinical inflammation may persist in periods between the attacks and heterozygotes may have higher than normal levels of acute phase proteins. We investigated the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and its soluble receptor (sIL-6R) in FMF patients and their obligatory carrier relatives.


METHODS
Serum levels of IL-6 and sIL-6R were measured during acute attacks (n = 18) and in attack-free FMF patients (n = 26), obligatory carriers of FMF (n = 17) and normal controls (n = 11).


RESULTS
The median levels of IL-6 were significantly higher (45.71 pg/ mL, p = 0.001) during acute attacks of FMF only, and were normal (0.01 pg/ mL) in the other groups studied. There was no statistically significant difference in the median sIL-6R values between any of the groups (p = 0.22).


CONCLUSIONS
IL-6 was extremely elevated during FMF attacks but could not detect hypothetical "subclinical" inflammation during attack-free intervals or in the heterozygote relatives of patients. Serum levels of sIL-6R were comparable in all four groups.
Oktem
S
S
Ege University School of Medicine, Department of Rheumatology, Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey. seldaoktem@yahoo.com
Yavuzsen
T U
TU
Sengül
B
B
Akhunlar
H
H
Akar
S
S
Tunca
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D010505:Familial Mediterranean Fever / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D019947:Receptors, Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*
D015850:Interleukin-6; D019947:Receptors, Interleukin-6