The Different Serum Levels Of IL-2 And IL-6 And Its Significance In Patients With Allergic Rhinitis, Chronic Rhinosinusitis, And Nasal Poplys

Background: Allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and nasal polyps arenasal infla mma tory disorder s with a high preva lence . The mecha nism of thesediseases has been always in hot discussion but rema ins unclear to date. Previousstudies have demonstrated that imbala nced T-helper cell subsets and dysregulation ofTh1/Th2 cytokine expression might pla y an important role in the pathogenesis ofthese diseases, but there was little concentration on the proinfla mmatory cytokine ssuch as IL-2 and IL-6, which ma y be important in the onset and development ofinfla mma tion.Objective: We aimed to study the different serum levels of IL-2 and IL-6 andits significa nce in patients with allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and nasalpolyps.Methods: The serum levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were measure d by using BDTMCytometric Bead Array in patients with allergic rhinitis (n=63), chronic rhinosinusitis(n=56), and nasal polyps (n=58) compared with those in healthy controls (n= 57).Results: Significa ntly different serum levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were observedamong the control group and three patient groups (P＝0.001, respectively). Intergroupanalysis showed that the serum levels of IL-2 and IL-6 were significa ntly higher in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis or nasal polyps, tha n in controls (P<0.01)or in patients with allergic rhinitis (P<0.05). There was no siginifica nt differencebetween allergic rhinitis and the contol groups (P>0.05), as well as between chronicrhinosinusitis and nasal polyps groups (P>0.05). A weakly positive correla tion wasobserved between the serum levels of IL-2 and IL-6 in patients with allergic rhinitis(rs=0.308, P=0.021), but not in the other three groups (P>0.05).ConclusiConclusion: Proinfla mmatory cytokine IL-2 and IL-6 may contribute to thedevelopment of chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps. There might be differentmecha nism patterns of allergic- and nona llergic-infla mma tion underling nasalinfla mma tory disorders, for which further studies are still necessary.