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Serum interleukin‐8 level is a more sensitive marker than serum interleukin‐6 level in monitoring the disease activity of recurrent aphthous ulcerations
Author(s) -
Sun Andy,
Chang YuFong,
Chia JeanSan,
Chiang ChunPin
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1111/j.0904-2512.2004.00094.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pulp (tooth) , pathology , molar , anatomy , premolar , dental alveolus , dentistry
Background: Recurrent aphthous ulcerations (RAU) are common oral inflammatory lesions. Interleukin (IL)‐8 is a pro‐inflammatory cytokine of host response to injury and inflammation. Our recent study has found that measurement of serum IL‐6 level can detect only 24% RAU patients with an abnormal serum level. In this study, we examined both the serum IL‐6 and IL‐8 levels in a group of RAU patients. The abilities of IL‐6 and IL‐8 to detect patients with an abnormal serum level were compared in order to find out whether IL‐8 was a more sensitive serum marker than IL‐6 in monitoring the disease activity of RAU. Methods: In this study, we used a solid‐phase, two‐site sequential chemiluminescent immunometric assay to determine the baseline serum levels of IL‐6 and IL‐8 in 146 patients with RAU, 9 patients with traumatic ulcers (TU), and 54 normal control (NC) subjects. Eighty‐two RAU patients, with the serum IL‐6 or IL‐8 levels higher than the upper limit of normal serum concentration, were treated with levamisole for 0.5–3.5 months, and their serum IL‐6 and IL‐8 levels were measured after treatment. Results: We found that 25% (37/146) RAU patients, as well as 33% (20/61) major‐type, 19% (13/69) minor‐type, and 25% (4/16) herpetiform‐type RAU patients, had a serum level of IL‐6 greater than the upper normal limit of 4.7 pg/ml. In contrast, 60% (87/146) RAU patients, as well as 59% (36/61) major‐type, 59% (41/69) minor‐type, and 63% (10/16) herpetiform‐type RAU patients, had a serum level of IL‐8 greater than the upper normal limit of 8.7 pg/ml. In 82 RAU patients with the serum IL‐6 or IL‐8 levels higher than the upper limit of normal serum concentration, treatment with levamisole for a period of 0.5–3.5 months could significantly reduce the serum IL‐6 level from 12.0 ± 1.6 to 3.0 ± 0.5 pg/ml ( P < 0.001), and could significantly lower the serum IL‐8 level from 70.9 ± 11.2 to 13.8 ± 3.1 pg/ml ( P < 0.001). Conclusions: Because measurement of serum IL‐8 level can detect 60% RAU patients with an abnormal serum level, while measurement of serum IL‐6 level can detect only 25% RAU patients with an abnormal serum level, we conclude that serum IL‐8 level is a more sensitive marker than serum IL‐6 level in monitoring the disease activity of RAU. Levamisole can modulate both the serum IL‐6 and IL‐8 levels in RAU patients. IL‐8, like IL‐6, is also a useful serum marker in evaluating therapeutic effects of levamisole on RAU patients.