Possible Role of Interleukin-6 in Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Main Author: Batool A. Al-Haidary
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Medicine University of Baghdad 2007-07-01
• Series: مجلة كلية الطب
• Subjects: RA, IL-6, RF, HLA-DR4, ELISA, Microlymphocytotoxicity
• Online Access: http://iqjmc.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/19JFacMedBaghdad36/article/view/1389

Background: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. Many etiological agents are proposed to play a role in its pathogenecity. One of these factors is cytokines such as Interleukin6. Material & Methods: ELISA method has been used for IL-6 estimation in 75 RA patients in comparison with 61 SLE as patient controls and 39 apparently healthy controls. Results: This study showed that there was an elevation of IL-6 in the sera of RA patients with high significant differences between RA patients and controls (P< 0.001). Moreover a good correlation between IL-6 level & RF titer were observed. However, for most patients with high IL-6 were shown to be HLA-DR4. Conclusions: Interleukin-6 play a crucial role in the disease which may be participate in the severity of RA & subsequently its treatment.