Clinical utility of serum interleukin-8 and interferon-alpha in thyroid diseases.

Abstract

Serum interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interferon-alpha (IFN-α) levels have been estimated from a total of 88 individuals of which 19 were disease-free healthy individuals, and 69 were patients with thyroid diseases: goitre (N = 21), autoimmune diseases (N = 16), and carcinomas (N = 32). Both IL-8 and IFN-α were significantly higher in all the patients as compared to healthy individuals. Serum IL-8 levels showed significant positive correlation with disease stage in thyroid cancer patients. Higher serum IL-8 levels were associated with advanced disease stage while no significant correlation was observed between serum IFN-α levels and any of the clinicopathological parameters. IL-8 and IFN-α significantly correlated with each other in anaplastic carcinoma patients. Finally concluding, monitoring the serum IL-8 and IFN-α levels can help differentiate patients with thyroid diseases from healthy individuals, and IL-8 seems to have a role in the pathogenesis of thyroid diseases and may represent a target for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

• Authors: Toral P Kobawala, Girish H Patel, Dhara R Gajjar, Kamini N Patel, Premal B Thakor, Urvi B Parekh, Kirti M Patel, Shilin N Shukla, Pankaj M Shah
• Journal: Journal of thyroid research (J Thyroid Res) Vol. 2011 Pg. 270149 (Mar 08 2011) ISSN: 2042-0072 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 21461397 (Publication Type: Journal Article)