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. 2019 Mar 7;9(1):3786.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-40212-6.

Interleukin-33 serum levels in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Lia Ginaldi  1 , Massimo De Martinis  2 , Salvatore Saitta  3 , Maria Maddalena Sirufo  1 , Carmen Mannucci  4 , Marco Casciaro  3 , Fedra Ciccarelli  1 , Sebastiano Gangemi  3
Affiliations

Interleukin-33 serum levels in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Lia Ginaldi et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

There are many cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. So far IL-33 involvement in osteoporotic patients has not yet been studied. IL-33 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine which mediates several immune functions; its involvement in a wide range of diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis, is now emerging. In view of the crucial role of this cytokine in inflammation and bone remodeling, we measured IL-33 levels in the serum of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. In 50 postmenopausal osteoporotic patients and 28 healthy postmenopausal control women, serum IL-33 levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. In both patients and controls the bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by double-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Vitamin D, calcium, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), parathyroid hormone (PTH) serum levels, as well as bone turnover markers, such as C-terminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen (CTX) and N-terminal propeptide of type 1 procollagen (P1NP) were also evaluated. In postmenopausal osteoporotic women IL-33 levels were significantly lower compared to healthy controls (3.53 ± 2.45 vs. 13.72 ± 5.39 pg/ml; P = 0.009) and positively correlated respectively with serum PTH (rho = 0.314; P = 0.026) and P1NP (rho = 0.373; P = 0.011) levels, while a statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between serum IL-33 and CTX levels (rho = -0.455; P = 0.002). Our results thus suggest that IL-33 represents an important bone-protecting cytokine which may be of therapeutic benefit in treating bone resorption.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
IL-33 serum levels in all patients and controls; lines represent medians.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation between IL-33 serum levels and parathyroid hormone (PTH) in osteoporotic patients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation between IL-33 serum levels and N-terminal propeptide of type 1 procollagen (P1NP) in osteoporotic patients.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Correlation between IL-33 serum levels and C-terminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen (CTX) in osteoporotic patients.
Figure 5
Figure 5
IL-33 serum levels in patients with mild osteoporosis (T-score > −3.5) and controls; lines represent medians.
Figure 6
Figure 6
IL-33 serum levels in unfractured patients and controls; lines represent medians.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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