Raised monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1)/CCL2 in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neuropsychiatric lupus.
BACKGROUND
An imbalance in cytokine homoeostasis is thought to have a key role in the neuropsychiatric syndromes of systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE), and recently, a role for chemokines has been noted.


OBJECTIVE
To compare concentrations of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1)/CCL2 in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of patients with SLE, and with and without neuropsychiatric symptoms.


METHODS
CSF was obtained from 185 patients with SLE: 96 with NPSLE and 89 patients with SLE without neuropsychiatric symptoms (non-NPSLE patients). MCP-1/CCL2 concentrations were measured with an ELISA.


RESULTS
The average concentration of CSF MCP-1/CCL2 in patients with NPSLE was 1959 pg/ml, and in non-NPSLE patients 712 pg/ml. The average MCP-1/CCL2 concentration was significantly higher in the NPSLE group than in the non-NPSLE group (p<0.001). In one representative patient with NPSLE, MCP-1/CCL2 levels in the CSF decreased in parallel with a decline in neuropsychiatric symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
CSF MCP-1/CCL2 levels are higher in patients with NPSLE than in non-NPSLE patients. MCP-1/CCL2 may have an important role in the expression of NPSLE. These results indicate that CSF MCP-1/CCL2 reflects an inflammatory activity in the brain, suggesting that it might be used as a diagnostic tool and a monitor for therapeutic responses in patients with NPSLE.
Iikuni
N
N
Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 10-22 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-0054, Japan.
Okamoto
H
H
Yoshio
T
T
Sato
E
E
Kamitsuji
S
S
Iwamoto
T
T
Momohara
S
S
Taniguchi
A
A
Yamanaka
H
H
Minota
S
S
Kamatani
N
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000276:immunology / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000150:complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D015415:Biomarkers; C111835:CCL2 protein, human; D018932:Chemokine CCL2