title: RANTES levels are elevated in serum and cerebrospinal fluid in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Immunological disturbances have been implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Chemokines are involved in the recruitment of immune cells. Regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) is a C-C beta-chemokine with strong chemo-attractant activity for T-lymphocytes and monocytes. We examined serum levels of RANTES in 20 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 14 patients with non-inflammatory neurological disorders (NIND) and 13 control subjects (CTRL) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of RANTES in ALS and NIND group patients in order to investigate whether RANTES as index of immune activation is present in ALS patients. Patients with ALS had higher RANTES levels compared with the NIND patients and CTRL subjects (p = 0.005 and p = 0.02, respectively). CSF RANTES levels were also higher compared with the NIND patients (p = 0.007). No correlation of serum and CSF RANTES levels with disease duration was found. These results may suggest an activated microglia induced recruitment of peripheral inflammatory cells to sites of inflammation in ALS patients.
authors.affiliation: Neurology, Aeginition Hospital, Athens National University, School of Medicine, Athens, Greece. mrentzos@med.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rentzos
authors.forename: Chryssoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nikolaou
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rombos
authors.forename: Fotini
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boufidou
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoga
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dimitrakopoulos
authors.forename: Anthousa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsoutsou
authors.forename: Demetrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vassilopoulos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D018946:Chemokine CCL5