Cardiac sarcoidosis: cytokine patterns in the course of the disease

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a chronic systemic disease of unknown etiology, which is characterized by noncaseating epitheloid granulomas usually in multiple organs. Here we describe changes in cytokine mRNA expression by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and changes of cytokine protein levels in plasma over a time course of 12 months in a patient with sarcoidosis confined to the heart as diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy. Mitogen-stimulated PBMCs exhibited a more T(H)1 cytokine profile at onset of symptoms before immunosuppressive therapy was initiated, with a change to a T(H)0 response in the course of the disease as evidenced by multiplex-polymerase chain reaction. In plasma, high levels of interleukin-6 could be detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system, with rapid decline correlating with immunosuppression and improving clinical course. These changes may point to a role of T(H)1 and T(H)2 cytokines in the pathogenesis and the healing process of cardiac sarcoidosis.