The Levels And Significance Of Plasma IL-17 And IL-23 In Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Objective:To study the levels and clinical significance of plasma IL-17 and IL-23 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods:Thirty-three Chinese SLE patients (3 males and 30 females, the average age was 36.52±11.82 years) were recruited during June 2008 to December 2008. The patients were divided into different groups according to the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) score, renal involvement and anti-dsDNA or anti-Sm antibody: 17 patients with active SLE and 16 patients with inactive SLE; 15 patients with nephritis and 18 patients without nephritis; 12 patients with positive anti-dsDNA antibody and 21 patients with negative anti-dsDNA antibody; 10 patients with positive anti-Sm antibody and 23 patients with negative anti-Sm antibody. Twenty-eight sex- and age-matched healthy Chinese volunteers were recruited as normal controls. Concentrations of IL-17 and IL-23 in plasma were measured by Enzyme linked immunosorbent essay (ELISA). And the clinical and laboratory data of the patients were collected.Results:1. Compared with patients with inactive SLE and normal controls, the levels of plasma IL-17 in patients with active SLE were significantly increased, and there showed no statistic differences between patients with inactive SLE and normal controls.2. Compared with patients with inactive SLE and normal controls, the levels of plasma IL-23 in patients with active SLE were significantly increased, and there showed no statistic differences between patients with inactive SLE and normal controls.3. The levels of plasma IL-17 and IL-23 were positively correlated with SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) scores.4. Compared with normal controls, the levels of plasma IL-17 and IL-23 in patients with or without nephritis were elevated. But no significant differences were observed for plasma IL-17 and IL-23 between the patients with nephritis and patients without nephritis.5. No significant differences were observed for plasma IL-17 and IL-23 between the patients with positive anti-dsDNA antibody and patients with negative anti-dsDNA antibody. And there were no statistic differences between patients with positive anti-Sm antibody and patients with negative anti-Sm antibody.6. There was no correlation between plasma IL-17 and IL-23 in patients with SLE, but the levels of plasma IL-17 showed a positive correlation and regression with the levels of plasma IL-23 in all subjects.7. There were no relationships between the levels of plasma IL-17 or IL-23 and other clinical indexes (including age, complement, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, albumin, pre-albumin, globulin, high-sensitive C reactive protein, serum creatinine, lymphocyte and platelet count).Conclusions:The levels of plasma IL-17 and IL-23 are significantly elevated in patients with active SLE, and the levels of them are positively correlated with SLEDAI scores. The results suggest that IL-17 and IL-23 may play a role in the pathogenesis of SLE, especially in active SLE. The levels of plasma IL-17 and IL-23 are not influenced by renal involvement.