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Published on: March 1, 2011
Interleukin-41 as a biomarker of the anti-inflammatory response associated with hyperuricemia
Shujie Zhang1, Guoqing Huang1, Mingcai Li2
1Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo 315010, China; Department of Immunology and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Health Science Center, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
Background:
Interleukin (IL)-41 is a recently discovered secreted protein that is expressed in a variety of tissues, and it is associated with several immune and metabolic diseases. However, IL-41 has not been studied in hyperuricemia (HUA).
Methods:
Forty-four HUA patients and 44 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study, and we collected theirgeneral and biochemical parameters, including white blood cell, neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, fasting blood glucose, total triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and hemoglobin concentration. The level of serum IL-41 was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was exploited to identify the independent risk factors associated with HUA, and the clinical diagnostic value of IL-41 was analyzed by applying the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We assessed the association between IL-41 and clinical parameters with Spearman's rank correlation.
Results:
Circulating IL-41 levels were significantly higher in HUA patients than in the HCs group (460.3 pg/mL vs. 261.3 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for IL-41 in HUA patients was 0.7443 (with a cut-off value of 311.055 pg/mL, a sensitivity of 68.18 %, and a specificity of 72.73 %), while the AUC for IL-41 combined with the platelet count was 0.8109. Correlation analysis revealed that the circulating IL-41 level was positively correlated with age in HCs and HUA patients.
Conclusions:
We herein demonstrated that serum IL-41 was elevated in HUA patients and that it may constitute a novel biomarker of anti-inflammatory response related to HUA.
