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Increased serum interleukin 17 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

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Abstract

Interleukin 17 (IL-17) is a Th17 cytokine associated with inflammation, autoimmunity and defense against some bacteria, it has been implicated in many chronic autoimmune diseases including psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and systemic sclerosis. However, whether IL-17 plays a role in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remains unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the serum IL-17 level in patients with SLE and it’s associations with disease manifestations and activity. Fifty-seven patients with SLE and 30 healthy volunteers were recruited. Serum IL-17 levels were examined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statistic analyzes were performed by SPSS 10.01. Results show that serum IL-17 levels were significantly elevated in SLE patients as compared with normal controls. Nevertheless, no associations of serum IL-17 level with clinical and laboratory parameters were found; no significant difference regarding serum IL-17 level between SLE patients with nephritis and those without nephritis was found; no significant difference was found between Less active SLE and More active SLE; Correlation analysis between serum IL-17 levels and SLEDAI showed no association. Taken together, our results indicate increased serum IL-17 levels in SLE patients, suggesting that this cytokine may trigger the inflammatory process in SLE. However, no associations of serum IL-17 level with disease manifestations were found. Therefore, further studies are required to confirm this preliminary data.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30571608, 30771848) and the key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (30830089).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, 230032, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Xue-Fei Zhao, Hai-Feng Pan, Hui Yuan, Wen-Hui Zhang, Hong Su, Fa-Ming Pan, Wen-Xian Li, Lian-Hong Li, Guo-Ping Chen & Dong-Qing Ye

  2. Department of Rheumatology, Anhui Provincial Hospital, 17 Lujiang Road, 230001, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Xiang-Pei Li & Gui-Hong Wang

  3. Department of Pharmacology, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, 230032, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Guo-Cui Wu

Authors
  1. Xue-Fei Zhao
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  2. Hai-Feng Pan
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  3. Hui Yuan
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  4. Wen-Hui Zhang
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  7. Guo-Cui Wu
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  8. Hong Su
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  9. Fa-Ming Pan
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  10. Wen-Xian Li
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  11. Lian-Hong Li
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  12. Guo-Ping Chen
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  13. Dong-Qing Ye
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dong-Qing Ye.

Additional information

X.-F. Zhao and H.-F. Pan contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

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Zhao, XF., Pan, HF., Yuan, H. et al. Increased serum interleukin 17 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Mol Biol Rep 37, 81–85 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-009-9533-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-009-9533-3

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