Estimation of Some Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Interleukins in Rheumatoid Arthritis of Iraqi Patients

Abstract

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory condition that mostly affects synovial joints. It produces severe swelling and ongoing inflammation, and as it worsens, the cartilage and bone begin to erode, resulting in deformed joints and bone erosion. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the levels of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies and determine the role of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-18 (IL-18), interleukin-38 (IL-38), and transforming growth factor-beta2 (TGF-β2) in studied groups (RA patients and apparently healthy control). Materials and Methods: The study included collecting blood samples from a group of patients infected with RA involving 60 patients (21 male and 39 female), and the healthy group included 50 individuals as control group (21 males and 29 females). Results: The outcomes showed of anti-CCP a highly significant difference for RA patients compared to the control group by 0.603 ± 0.02 and 0.274 ± 0.01, respectively, and some immunological parameters that involve inflammation-promoting interleukins (IL-1β and IL-18), the results showed the significant differences at the level (P < 0.01) of patients was 126.79 ± 4.18 and 194.37 ± 12.71 compared with control 91.85 ± 2.11 and 92.27 ± 2.08, respectively. The identical results to measure anti-inflammatory interleukins (IL-38, TGF-β2) represented of patients were 190.43 ± 9.82 and 403.23 ± 21.20 compared with control group was 88.39 ± 1.56 and 115.59 ± 5.63, respectively. Conclusion: The immunological parameters represented high expression of pro-inflammatory interleukins (IL-1β and IL-18), so, elevation levels of anti-inflammatory interleukins (IL-38 and TGF-β2) of RA patients.