The type and concentration of cytokines in the blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) varies with factors such as age at disease onset and disease severity, and predicts the need for disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS), report researchers.
"An imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines is a key concept in the predisposition to rheumatoid synovitis," say Sukhbir Singh (Kuwait University) and co-workers.
The researchers write in the journal Rheumatology International: "There is a lack of literature on the association of pro- and anti-inflammatory peripheral blood cytokine patterns with patient demographics and disease variables in RA."
Singh and team therefore investigated the relationship between general disease characteristics and cytokine profile in 42 individuals with RA.
Of the various relationships uncovered, the authors report that the most novel was a link between increased production of interleukin-4 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells and female gender, less severe disease, an earlier age at disease onset, and a generally non-erosive disease type. Increased interleukin-18 concentrations also predicted non-erosive disease and younger age at disease onset.
In addition, patients with the highest levels of interleukin-10 were significantly more likely to require two or fewer DMARDs than other patients.
The investigators recommend further study in this area. Specifically, they note that "whether the findings in this study are unique to RA, or also applicable to other inflammatory arthritides such as psoriatic arthritis, remains to be tested by comparing peripheral blood mononuclear cell production of cytokines in these two different populations."
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n0275057352u1127/?p=c8250f7d0d314ca79ae7bd794ebf333c&pi=4