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Th1, Th2 and Th17 Cytokine Profile in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Following Treatment with Rapamycin
Mansour Salehi1, Bahram Bagherpour, Vahid Shayghannejad
1Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Science, Isfahan, Iran,
Background:
Management of multiple sclerosis (MS) is based on the usage of immunosuppressive and immune-modulating medications. Cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of MS.
Objective:
To evaluate the effects of rapamycin on the concentrations of Th1/Th2/Th17 serum cytokines in patients with MS.
Methods:
Six patients with relapsing remitting MS as a case group and 6 healthy individuals as a control group were enrolled. The patients have been receiving 2 mg rapamycin daily for 6 months. The individuals in control group received nothing during 6 months of the experiment. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Simultaneous Multi-Analyte ELISA) technique was used for determination of serum concentrations of IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, IFN-γ, TNF-α, G-CSF and TGF-β before and after therapy with rapamycin.
Results:
The mean absorbance of 10 out of the 12 studied cytokines showed reduction after the therapy with rapamycin including IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17, IFN-γ and TNF-α. The only statistically significant reduction was observed in the absorbance of IFN-γ (p=0.028). Two cytokines illustrated increase in the patients sera after the therapy, including G-CSF and TGF-β, but only increase in TGF-β was statistically significant (p=0.046). None of the studied cytokines in the control group varied significantly after 6 months.
Conclusion:
Based on the findings of this study, rapamycin has some immunosuppressive effects, such as decreasing IFN -γ, which can improve the quality of life of the patients with multiple sclerosis. Also the increased level of TGF-β may also have benefits on the disease, which needs further clinical studies.
