CSF levels of cytokines in neuro-Behçet's disease

Abstract

Background Neurological manifestations of Behçet's disease (neuro-Behçet's disease) present in 5–30% of patients. Although cytokines play a pivotal role in pathogenesis of Behçet's disease, published studies about the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of cytokines in neuro-Behçet's disease are scanty. Methods Nine patients with active parenchymal, one patient with non-parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease, six patients with headache attributed to Behçet's disease, 13 patients with viral meningitis, and 19 healthy controls were recruited. Interleukin 6, 8, 10, tumor necrotic factor-α, and interferon-γ were measured in the CSF using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Results Patients with viral meningitis had significantly higher levels of all investigated cytokines except for interferon-γ in comparison with the patients with parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease, headache attributed to Behçet's disease and controls ( P values <0.05). CSF interleukin 6 was significantly higher in patients with parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease in comparison with the controls ( P = 0.025). CSF levels of investigated cytokines had no significant difference between patients with headache attributed to Behçet's disease and controls ( P values >0.05). Patients with headache attributed to BD and patients with parenchymal NBD had no significant difference in measured cytokines ( P values >0.05). Conclusion In contrast to some previous studies, our investigation showed loss of analogy between CSF cytokine profiles of patients with parenchymal neuro-Behçet's disease and viral meningitis. Also we postulated a crucial role for interleukin 6 in immunopathogenesis of neuro-Behçet's disease.