Levels And Significance Of Interleukin-21 In Pleural Effusion

Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate the concentrations and clinical significance of interleukin-21 in pleural effusions with various etiologies. Methods Pleural effusion samples are obtained from 60 patients who presented to the respiratory(20 with tuberculous pleural effusion ,20 with malignant pleural effusion,20 with transudative pleural effusion). The pleural effusion levels of IL-21 were determined by sandwich Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays(ELISA). Results: (1)The pleural concentrations of IL-21 in malignant(9.218±2.349 pg/ml) group was signifincantly higher than those in tuberculosis(3.056±0.256 pg/ml ) and transudative(3.062±0.129 pg/ml) groups, there was statistical significance in pleural concentrations of IL-21 among all three groups(p<0.001).But,there was no correlation between malignant and transudative groups(p>0.05).Pleural IL-21 level was negative correlation with number of ADA. (2)By analysis of ROC curves ,the cut-off calues for interleukin-21 was defined.The senditivity and specificity of interleukin-21 for manlignant effusion were 90% and 97.5%. Conclusion Compared to tuberculosis and transudative pleural effusion,IL-21 appered to be increased greatly in malignant pleural effusion.The levels of ADA in tuberculosis pleural effusion are significantly higher than other groups.The combined detection can be used for diagnostic purpose.