[Serum interleukin-6 concentrations in patients with alcoholic liver disease]

Serum interleukin-6 concentrations in patients with alcoholic liver disease Pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is not well defined, but immune mediated hepatic injury is thought to be important. The main aim of this study was estimation of serum concentrations of IL-6 in patients with chronic alcoholic liver disease and determination of correlations between IL-6 serum concentration and occurrence of clinical manifestations, biochemical parameters and a stage of ALD. 85 patients with the diagnosis of chronic ALD and 35 healthy subjects (mached for age and sex) were enrolled into the study. Serum concentration of IL-6 was measured with ELISA. Serum IL-6 concentrations were markedly elevated in the all analyzed groups of patients with ALD when compared with healthy controls. When compared in groups, patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and chronic alcoholic hepatitis had the highest and patients with fatty liver had the lowest serum IL-6 concentrations. In addition, IL-6 concentrations were higher in patients with hepatic encephalopathy than in those without liver failure. Furthermore, we found statistically significant correlation between serum IL-6 and albumin concentrations. High IL-6 concentrations were associated with high mortality in patients with ALD. These findings suggest that IL-6 is an important immunological factor associated with alcoholic liver disease.