The expression level of cytokine genes in the cases of native heart valves in infectious endocarditis

Abstract

The expression level of IL1B, IL6, IL8, IL10, IL12A, IL12B, IL18, IL23, IL33, CCL2, and IL1RL1 has been investigated using biopsies of native mitral, aortic, and tricuspid valves obtained during surgical correction of acquired defect from 25 patients with infectious endocarditis. Biopsies of native mitral and aortic valve cusps from 12 patients who underwent surgical correction of acquired heart disease of non-infectious etiology were used as control. We used quantitative PCR with fluorescent dye SYBR Green for determination of the cytokine gene expression level. This study revealed that genes could be subdivided into three groups: (i) genes with increased expression (IL1B, IL6, and IL8); (ii) genes with reduced expression (IL33 and IL1RL1); (iii) genes with unchanged expression (IL12A, IL18, IL23, and CCL2). The IL8 gene expression was characterized by the most pronounced increase (9.83 times versus control), while the IL1RL1 gene demonstrated the most pronounced decrease in its expression (4.17 times). Expression of IL10 and IL12B genes was negligible in all samples.