Correlation Between The Contents Of IL-1β,IL-6,IL-8 And TNF-α In Cervical Intervertebral Discs Of Patients With Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy And The JOA Score For Cervical Spinal Cord Function

AIM: To measure the contents of interleukin (IL-1,IL-6,IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) in the cervical intervertebral disk of patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), analyze the relationship of IL-1,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-αcontents with the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, study the role of immune reaction in the pathogenesis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) ,especially the roll of cytokines.METHODS: Twenty-seven inpatients with CSM were enrolled as case group, sixteen patients were enrolled in the surgical operation patients with traumatic cervical injury served as control group, who had no CSM disease history in the Department of Orthopaedics, First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University from November 10th, 2005 to June 30th, 2006. Cervical intervertebral disks were obtained from patients of the two groups undergoing anterior surgery. The contents of IL-1,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-αin all specimens of the two groups were measured with radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. The 27 CSM sufferers were divided into two groups according to the JOA score: moderate and severe group scored from 0-12 points, totally 20 patients, and mild group scored from 13-17 points, totally 7 patients.RESULTS: Totally 43 cases were involved in the result analysis.①The contents of IL-1,IL-6,and TNF-αin disk of CSM sufferers increased significantly compared with the control group [IL-1β:(0.0819±0.0414),(0.0542±0.0339)ng/L,P<0.05;IL-6:(34.521±18.592),(17.557±12.438)ng/L,P <0.01;TNF-α:(6.071±1.912),(3.143±0.630)pmol/L;P<0.01].②The content of TNF-αincreased significantly in moderate and severe group of JOA score 0-12 compared with mild group of JOA score 13-17 [(6.888±1.385),(3.737±1.092)pmol/L,P<0.01].③The contents of IL-8 in disk of CSM sufferers increased unsignificantly compared with the control group [IL-8(:0.649±1.869)(,0.418±0.223)ng/L,P>0.05];④The content of IL-1β,IL-6,IL-8 in disk of CSM sufferers increased unsignificantly in moderate and severe group of JOA score 0-12 compared with mild group of JOA score 13-17 [IL-1β:(0.0824±0.0393),(0.0804±0.0506)ng/L,P>0.05;IL-6(37.178±18.791),(26.929±16.998)ng/L,P>0.05;IL-8(0.806±2.163),(0.202±0.091)ng/L,P>0.1]。CONCLUSION:①The IL-1,IL-6 and TNF-αsecretes to increase in the cervical intervertebral disks of CSM patients.②The content of TNF-αin the cervical intervertebral disks of CSM patients is associated with JOA score for spinal cord function. It indicates that the severity of the clinical symptoms of the patients with CSM has certain association with immune reaction.③IL-8 don't secretes to increase obviously in the cervical intervertebral disks of CSM patients. It indicates that IL-8 have a minor roll in the pathogenesis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM).④The content of IL-1β,IL-6,IL-8 in disk of CSM sufferers increased unsignificantly in moderate and severe group of JOA score 0-12 compared with mild group of JOA score 13-17.It indicates that these cell factors has uncertain correlation with the clinical symptoms of the patients with CSM.