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. 2013 Apr 23;8(4):e62354.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062354. Print 2013.

Proinflammatory cytokines are elevated in serum of patients with multiple system atrophy

Eli Kaufman  1 , Sara Hall, Yulia Surova, Håkan Widner, Oskar Hansson, Daniel Lindqvist
Affiliations

Proinflammatory cytokines are elevated in serum of patients with multiple system atrophy

Eli Kaufman et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Despite several lines of evidence from preclinical and post-mortem studies suggesting that inflammation is involved in Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), no previous studies have measured peripheral indices of inflammation in MSA patients.

Methods: We measured C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, soluble IL-2 receptor and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in blood samples from MSA patients (n = 14) and healthy controls (n = 40).

Results: IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly elevated in MSA patients compared to healthy controls. After controlling for the potentially confounding effects of age, gender, and somatic co-morbidities, a diagnosis of MSA was still significantly associated with high levels of TNF-α. Higher TNF-α levels were associated with less severe motor symptoms and earlier disease stage.

Conclusions: Our findings are in line with the hypothesis that inflammation might be involved at an early stage of MSA pathophysiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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