title: Lower serum levels of Th2-related chemokine CCL22 in women patients with multiple sclerosis: a comparison between patients and healthy women.
abstract: Chemokines play a major role in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Gender also affects the susceptibility and course of MS. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum levels of the macrophage-derived chemokine (CCL22) in women and men patients with MS. Blood samples were collected from 135 healthy subjects (35 men and 100 women) and 135 MS patients (29 men and 136 women; 47 newly diagnosed and 88 treated patients and have relapsing-remitting (RRMS; n = 65), secondary progressive (SPMS; n = 37), primary progressive (PPMS; n = 19), or progressive relapsing (PRMS; n = 14) patterns). The serum levels of CCL22 were measured by ELISA. The difference of the mean serum levels of CCL22 between the newly diagnosed MS men and healthy men was not significant, but in newly diagnosed MS women, the mean serum levels of CCL22 were significantly lower than those in treated MS women and healthy women (P < 0.006 and P < 0.0001, respectively). The differences of the mean CCL22 levels between men patients with different treatment programs were not significant, but the mean CCL22 levels were significantly higher in women treated with interferon-β or the combination of interferon-β plus methylprednisolone as compared to untreated women patients (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). The CCL22 levels were also significantly higher in women with RRMS and PRMS patterns in comparison to healthy women (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). These results showed lower levels of CCL22 in women patients which represents that the reduction in CCL22 levels may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease in women. In women patients, the levels of CCL22 were influenced by disease pattern and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Research Center, Department of Neurology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, Jafarzadeh@kum.ac.ir.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jafarzadeh
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bagherzadeh
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zarkesh
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Iranmanesh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Najafzadeh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khosravimashizi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nemati
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabahi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hajghani
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Daneshvar
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D054422:Chemokine CCL22 / Q000097:blood*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D012737:Sex Factors; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C515482:CCL22 protein, human; D054422:Chemokine CCL22; D007155:Immunologic Factors