title: Plasma Levels of Interleukin 12 Family Cytokines and Their Relevant Cytokines in Adult Patients with Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia before and after High-Dose Dexamethasome Treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to investigate the expression of interleukin 12 (IL-12) family cytokines (IL-12, IL-23, IL-27 and IL-35) and their relevant cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17A and IL-10) in patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP) as well as the effect of high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) treatment on this expression.
  
  
  METHODS
  DXM was administered orally at a dose of 40 mg per day for 4 consecutive days to 38 patients with cITP. We measured the plasma levels of IL-12p70, IL-23, IL-27, IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-17A before and after treatment and also in 36 matched healthy controls, by means of FlowCytomix™ technology. The plasma levels of IL-10 and IL-35 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly higher plasma levels of IL-12p70, IL-23, IL-27, IFN-γ and IL-17A were observed in cITP patients than in controls (p < 0.01), and after HD-DXM treatment, these levels decreased significantly (p < 0.01). However, significantly lower plasma levels of IL-4, IL-10 and IL-35 were observed in cITP patients than in controls (p < 0.01); after the HD-DXM treatment, these levels had increased significantly in the cITP patients (p < 0.01). Moreover, the cytokine levels of patients who attained a complete response returned to the levels of normal controls (p > 0.05) but were not corrected in the patients who had no response (p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The patients with cITP had abnormal expression of the IL-12 family cytokines and their relevant cytokines levels, and HD-DXM treatment corrected the derangement of plasma cytokines. Measuring cytokine levels may help in the clinical assessment of cITP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, PR China.
authors.forename: Qingsheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Linjie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ruixiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Qingshu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Yongqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Leiming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Mingzhen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood / Q000145:classification; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D016553:Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D018664:Interleukin-12; D003907:Dexamethasone