The Significance Of The Assays Of Serum SIL-2R And Stnfr Ⅱ In The Research Of Sarcoidosis

Background:Sarcoidosis is a systematic disease which multiple organs are involved,characterized by noncaseating granulomas formation in many organs. Until now, thecause of sarcoidosis is unknown. The cellular immune function is strengthened in locallesions of sarcoidosis, but the cellular immune function is suppressed in peripheral blood.In the local lesions of sarcoidosis, T lymphocytes and macrophages are activated by anunknown antigen, and then these activated lymphocytes and macrophages can releaseIL-2and TNF-α. Following the release of the cytokines, other inflammatory cells areactivated and recruited. Together, all these inflammatory cells and cytokines result in theformation of inflammatory granuloma in local lesions. IL-2and TNF-α exert biologicaleffect by binding to their own membrane receptors, respectively. sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ asnegative regulators can suppressed the biological effect of IL-2and TNF-α throughcompetition binding to membrane receptors. It is reported that sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ areimportant immunosuppressive factor and the levels of sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡcan presentthe intensity of immune response in vivo. Some researches showed that sIL-2R andsTNFRⅡlevels in peripheral blood serum were significantly elevated in activesarcoidosis patients. But, it is unclear whether sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡcan be used asindicators for activity of sarcoidosis, and how the expression levels of sIL-2R andsTNFRⅡwith extrapulmonary organ involvement in sarcoidosis is. At present, studies ofthis aspect still very few, which is worth to research intensively.Objectives:The present study was performed to detect the sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ levels inperipheral blood serum of pulmonary sarcoidosis patients, and to analyze the relationshipof sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ with sACE. The intended results would help us to know the roleof sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ in judgment of the activity and severity of sarcoidosis and themolecular mechanisms of the immunological pathogenesis of sarcoidosis. Methods:1. Fifty-two cases of sarcoidosis patients that are definitely diagnosed bypathological examination were collected. All these patients according to the clinicalmanifestations and results of auxiliary examination were divided into two groups, namedactive group (n=28)and inactive group (n=24), respectively, depending on the stage ofsarcoidosis. Meanwhile,30cases of healthy volunteers were enrolled in our study ascontrol group.2. In active group (n=28), according to whether the extrapulmonary organs wereinvolved, the patients were divided into extrapulmonary organ involvement subgroup (n=12) and only pulmonary lesions subgroup (n=16), furtherly.The serum sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡlevels in every group were detected by ELISA kits.And the level of sACE was detected by ultraviolet spectrophotometry in active group.Results:1. The serum sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ levels of active group were significantly higher thanthose of in inactive group and control group (P <0.05), but there were no statisticallysignificant differences between the inactive group and the control group (P>0.05).2. There was a significant correlation between sACE level and sIL-2R level in activegroup (r=0.869, P <0.01), but not between sACE and sTNFRⅡ(r=0.103, P>0.05).3. The sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡlevels of extrapulmonary organ involvement subgroupwere significantly higher than those of only pulmonary lesions subgroup (P <0.05). Conclusion:Detection of the serum sIL-2R and sTNFRⅡ levels is useful for determining theactivity and severity of sarcoidosis, and evaluating the immune status of sarcoidosispatients.