title: TNF-alpha, soluble TNF receptor and interleukin-6 plasma levels in the general population.
abstract: The cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), soluble TNF receptors p55 and p75, and interleukin 6 (IL-6) are involved in host defense against several microbiological agents, in the process of inflammation and also in body weight regulation. In the present study, we sought to assess the influence of age, gender, smoking, and body mass index on plasma levels of TNF-alpha, TNF receptors, and IL-6 in more than 550 adult subjects randomly selected from the Bavarian population. None of the cytokine parameters had a normal distribution and all distributions were significantly skewed. The cytokine plasma levels investigated increased significantly with age, while gender had a relatively weaker influence on the plasma levels. Plasma levels of TNF-alpha, TNF receptors, and IL-6 correlated significantly with the BMI. The study provides insights into factors influencing the cytokine levels investigated in a randomly chosen study sample.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, 80804, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hubertus
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Himmerich
authors.forename: Stephany
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fulda
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Linseisen
authors.forename: Henrike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seiler
authors.forename: Günther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wolfram
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Himmerich
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gedrich
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pollmächer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha