Serum Cytokine Levels Compared in Behçet's Disease

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disorder, stands out from other autoimmune and auto-inflammatory diseases due to its unique properties and is characterized by recurrent episodes of oral and genital ulcers, uveitis, and various systems involvement.

The onset of BD usually occurs in the third or fourth decade, and it is rare in children or patients over the age of 50, and the disease shows a male preponderance in Middle Eastern countries and the Mediterranean basin, conversely, women are more commonly affected in Japan and Korea.


Scientists at the Dicle University Faculty of Medicine (Diyarbakır, Turkey) investigated and compared the serum levels of various cytokines in patients with BD and healthy controls. In the study there were 10 patients with active BD, seven males and three females, and 25 patients with inactive BD, 11 males and 14 females. The mean ages of the groups were 31.90 ± 3.51 years, 33.80 ± 10.85 years, and 29.97 ± 12.43 years in active BD, inactive BD and controls, respectively.

The serum interleukin (IL)-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and interferon (IFN)-γ (Invitrogen; Carlsbad, CA, USA) and IL-17A (Biosource Europe S. A.; Nivelles, Belgium) levels were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Mean serum IL-8 levels of active BD patients was 2.04 ± 0.33 pg/mL which were higher compared to inactive BD patients of 1.81 ± 0.28 pg/mL and healthy controls whose mean level was 1.82 ± 0.20 pg/ml. IL-8 levels were correlated with the duration of symptoms and time passed since diagnosis. Serum levels of IL-2, 6, 10, 17A, and IFN- γ were similar in all study groups.

The authors concluded that Behçet's disease involves complex interactions of cells of the immune system, mainly T lymphocytes and neutrophils and various alterations in cytokine signaling seem to play a major role in its pathogenesis. The study was published in the July 2015 issue of the Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis.

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