| Summary: | Aim of the work: To analyze the level of interleukin 22 (IL-22) in sera of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and to associate its level to disease activity, skin involvement and lupus nephritis.
Patients and methods: The study included 70 SLE patients under treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and in 50 age and sex matched healthy controls. Patients were assessed for clinical and laboratory variables including the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), Antinuclear Antibodies (ANA), and anti-double stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ds-DNA). The SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) was evaluated. Level of IL22 in patients and controls sera was investigated by ELISA.
Results: The 70 patients were 64 women and 6 men with a mean age of 27.2 ± 8.2 years. Levels of IL-22 were significantly increased in sera of SLE patients compared to controls (median 162 pg/mL and 58 pg/mL, respectively; p < 0.001). IL-22 significantly correlated with the SLEDAI as well as with ESR and CRP (r = 0.41 and p = 0.016; r = 0.42 and p = 0.01; r = 0.996 and p < 0.001, respectively). IL-22 level revealed a significant association with skin involvement (p < 0.001) and with the absence of lupus nephritis (p = 0.007).
Conclusion: Our data suggest that increased serum IL-22 may contribute to the pathogenesis of SLE. Its elevated serum level allows discrimination between patients with different clinical and laboratory measures and indicates the potential of IL-22 as an additional tool for assessment of activity in SLE. IL22 in serum seems to be a significant index reflecting skin and renal involvement in SLE.
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