The Relationship Between Serum Interleukin-6 Level and Chronic Urticaria

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Mofid Children’s Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Allergy, Hazrat Rasul Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

3 Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran.

4 Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran Medical Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: The immunologic profile of chronic urticaria is not only important for diagnostic purposes, but also for therapeutic approaches. This study evaluated the serum levels of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) and Interferon-ϒ (IFN-ϒ) in patients with chronic urticaria to find a biomarker.
Materials and Methods: Forty-one patients with chronic urticaria referring to the Allergy Outpatient Clinic of Rasoul Akram Hospital and 20 healthy control subjects were enrolled in the study. A questionnaire was filled and the disease activity score was determined in a one-week period for every patient. All patients underwent basic laboratory tests in addition to the Autologous Serum Skin Test. Their serum IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-ϒ levels were also evaluated.
Results: The patients were divided into two groups comprising of 20 and 21 participants according to the results of Autologous Serum Skin Tests. The serum IL-6 levels were elevated in the patients’ group (P=0.015). However, there was no significant difference between the patients with chronic urticaria and healthy controls in the serum levels of TNF-α (P=0.25), and IFN-ϒ (P=0.55), neither in the exact state nor by the Mann-Whitney U test.
Conclusion: Serum IL-6 level was elevated in patients with chronic urticaria, but the serum levels of IFN-ϒ and TNF-α were not significantly elevated.

Keywords

References

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Immunoregulation
Volume 2, Issue 1 - Serial Number 3
Summer & Autumn
July 2019
Pages 41-46

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