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
. 2019;44(2):150-158.
doi: 10.5114/ceji.2019.87066. Epub 2019 Jul 30.

Correlations between serum interleukin 6, serum soluble interleukin 6 receptor, and disease activity in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients treated with or without tocilizumab

Soamarat Vilaiyuk  1 , Butsabong Lerkvaleekul  1 , Sirisucha Soponkanaporn  1 , Chavachol Setthaudom  2 , Supranee Buranapraditkun  3
Affiliations

Correlations between serum interleukin 6, serum soluble interleukin 6 receptor, and disease activity in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients treated with or without tocilizumab

Soamarat Vilaiyuk et al. Cent Eur J Immunol. 2019.

Abstract

Introduction: Interleukin (IL)-6 is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA). Since these patients are often treated with tocilizumab (TCZ), anti-IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) antibody, we investigated correlations between serum IL-6 and soluble IL-6R-levels and disease activity in SJIA patients treated with or without TCZ.

Material and methods: 164 serum samples were taken from 42 SJIA patients treated with or without TCZ (69 and 95 samples, respectively). Patients were assigned to three groups according to disease status: 1) systemic (patients with systemic features and/or arthritis), 2) arthritis (patients with arthritis but no systemic features), and 3) inactive (clinically inactive disease). Disease activity was assessed using the Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score-27 (JADAS-27) at the time of blood collection.

Results: IL-6 levels were highest in SJIA patients with predominant systemic features, while serum sIL-6R levels were highest in patients with persistent arthritis. Serum IL-6 correlated with JADAS-27 in patients treated with and without TCZ (r = 0.38 and r = 0.65, respectively), whereas serum sIL-6R levels correlated with JADAS-27 in patients treated without (r = 0.30) but not with (r = -0.14) TCZ. The sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio negatively correlated with JADAS-27 in patients treated with and without TCZ (r = -0.49 and r = -0.56, respectively).

Conclusions: Serum IL-6 levels correlated more strongly with disease activity parameters than did sIL-6R levels and could be useful for monitoring disease activity in SJIA patients. The sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio might be a promising disease activity marker in both SJIA patients treated with and without TCZ.

Keywords: anti-interleukin 6 receptor antibody; correlation; interleukin 6; interleukin 6 receptor; juvenile idiopathic arthritis; systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis; tocilizumab.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Serum IL-6 and sIL-6R levels in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients. Patient serum samples were classified by disease status and analyzed for (A) serum IL-6 levels or (B) serum sIL-6R levels. Data are the median, interquartile range, and minimum/maximum values of the indicated number of samples for each subgroup
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) patients treated with and without tocilizumab (TCZ). SJIA patient serum samples treated with and without TCZ were classified by disease status and analysed for sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio. Data are the median, interquartile range, and minimum/maximum values of the indicated number of samples for each subgroup
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Correlations between the sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio with Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score-27 (JADAS-27) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) patients treated with and without tocilizumab (TCZ). Correlations between sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio with JADAS-27 in SJIA patients treated (A) without TCZ (95 samples) and (B) with TCZ (69 samples). Correlations between sIL-6R/IL-6 ratio with ESR in SJIA patients treated (C) without TCZ (95 samples) and (D) with TCZ (69 samples)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Petty RE, Southwood TR, Manners P, et al. International League of Associations for Rheumatology classification of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: second revision, Edmonton, 2001. J Rheumatol. 2004;31:390–392. - PubMed
    1. Lin YT, Wang CT, Gershwin ME, Chiang BL. The pathogenesis of oligoarticular/polyarticular vs systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Autoimmun Rev. 2011;10:482–489. - PubMed
    1. De Benedetti F. Targeting interleukin-6 in pediatric rheumatic diseases. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2009;21:533–537. - PubMed
    1. Mihara M, Hashizume M, Yoshida H, et al. IL-6/IL-6 receptor system and its role in physiological and pathological conditions. Clin Sci. 2012;122:143–159. - PubMed
    1. Scheller J, Rose-John S. Interleukin-6 and its receptor: from bench to bedside. Med Microbiol Immunol. 2006;195:173–183. - PubMed