title: Serum levels of IL-18 in Iranian females with systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: IL-18 is a member of the IL-1 family of cytokines but due to its unique inflammatory and imimunoregulatory properties it is suggested that it plays important roles in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases like as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
  
  
  METHODS
  The current study was sought to evaluate serum levels of IL-18 in Iranian females with SLE. Serum samples of 25 patients with low disease activity, SLE-DAI score < 7, 25 with high disease activity, SLE-DAI score > or = 7 and 25 normal subjects were assessed for IL-18, anti-ds-DNA, C3, C4 and other lab findings using appropriate methods. Level IL-18 in patients with SLE-DAI score > or = 7 was significantly higher than patients with low disease activity and controls (p = 0.026 and p = 0.005, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with high disease activity, a positive correlation was found between serum levels of IL-18 with DsDNA antibody (r2 = 0.38, p = 0.03), protein levels in 24 hours collected urine (r2 = 0.53, p = 0.007), platelet counts (r2 = 0.506, p = 0.01) and it correlates negatively with serum C3 levels (r2 = -0.42, p = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings point to important role of IL-18 in SLE patients with disease activity higher than SLE-DAI score 7.
authors: Rheumatology and Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors: Miramir
authors: M
authors: Aghdashi
authors: Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors: Sasan
authors: S
authors: Aribi
authors: Clinical Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Siamak
authors: S
authors: Salami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003176:Complement C3 / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood*; D007492:Iran; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood*; D010976:Platelet Count; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000097:blood; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D003176:Complement C3; D020382:Interleukin-18