Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 29;35(3):250-255.
doi: 10.4274/balkanmedj.2017.0323. Epub 2018 Feb 27.

Increased Expression of Interleukin-18 mRNA is Associated with Carotid Artery Stenosis

Berk Arapi  1 , Burcu Bayoğlu  2 , Müjgan Cengiz  2 , Ahmet Dirican  3 , Serkan Burç Deser  4 , Yerik Junusbekov  1 , Caner Arslan  1
Affiliations

Increased Expression of Interleukin-18 mRNA is Associated with Carotid Artery Stenosis

Berk Arapi et al. Balkan Med J. .

Abstract

Background: Carotid artery stenosis is the atherosclerotic narrowing of the proximal internal carotid artery and one of the primary causes of stroke. Elevated expression of the pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-18 has been demonstrated in human atherosclerotic plaques.

Aims: To investigate whether the mRNA expression levels of interleukin-18 and interleukin-18-binding protein and interleukin-18 −137 G/C (rs187238) variants are associated with carotid artery stenosis development.

Study design: Case-control study.

Methods: The mRNA expression levels of interleukin-18 and interleukin-18-binding protein and interleukin-18 rs187238 variants were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively, in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 70 patients with carotid artery stenosis (36 symptomatic, 34 asymptomatic) and 75 healthy controls.

Results: Interleukin-18 mRNA expression was significantly increased in carotid artery stenosis patients compared to that in healthy controls (p=0.01). However, no significant difference was observed between interleukin-18-binding protein mRNA expression levels in patients with carotid artery stenosis and those in controls (p=0.101). Internal carotid artery stenosis severity was significantly higher in symptomatic patients than that in asymptomatic patients (p<0.001). A significant relationship was identified between interleukin-18 expression and internal carotid artery stenosis severity in patients with carotid artery stenosis (p=0.051). Interleukin-18 rs187238 polymorphism genotype frequencies did not significantly differ between patients with carotid artery stenosis and controls (p=0.246). A significant difference was identified between interleukin-18-binding protein gene expression and symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (p=0.026), but there was no difference in interleukin-18 expression between the symptomatic and asymptomatic subgroups (p=0.397).

Conclusion: Interleukin-18 mRNA expression may affect carotid artery stenosis etiopathogenesis and internal carotid artery stenosis severity and also may play a mechanistic role in the pathogenesis of carotid artery stenosis, influencing the appearance of symptoms.

Keywords: Carotid artery; gene expression; interleukin-18; interleukin-18-binding protein; stenosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Relative IL-18 and IL-18-BP mRNA expressions in patients with carotid artery stenosis and healthy controls. CAS: carotid artery stenosis; IL-18: interleukin-18; IL-18-BP: interleukin-18-binding protein
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Della-Morte D, Guadagni F, Palmirotta R, Testa G, Caso V, Paciaroni M, et al. Genetics of ischemic stroke, stroke-related risk factors, stroke precursors and treatments. Pharmacogenomics. 2012;13:595–613. - PubMed
    1. Daly C, Rodriguez HE. Carotid artery occlusive disease. Surg Clin North Am. 2013;93:813–32. - PubMed
    1. Golledge J, Siew DA. Identifying the carotid ‘high risk’ plaque: is it still a riddle wrapped up in an enigma? Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2008;35:2–8. - PubMed
    1. Ross R. Atherosclerosis: an inflammatory disease. N Engl J Med. 1999;340:115–26. - PubMed
    1. Okamura H, Tsutsui H, Komatsu T, Yutsudo M, Hakura A, Tanimoto T, et al. Cloning of a new cytokine that induces IFN-gamma production by T cells. Nature. 1995;378:88–91. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources