Behcet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic disorder of unknown etiology characterized by relapsing oral-genital
ulcers,
uveitis, and involvement of vascular, gastrointestinal, neurological, and musculoskeletal system. Although disease pathogenesis is still unclear, both innate and adaptive immunity have shown to play a pivotal role, and multiple proinflammatory
cytokines seem to be involved in different pathogenic pathways that eventually lead to tissue damage.The aims of our study were to evaluate serum
cytokines levels of
IL-8,
IL-18, IFN-α2a,
IL-6, IFN-γ, CXCL10, CXCL11, CXCL9, and SAA levels in patients with BD, in comparison to healthy controls (HC), and to correlate their levels to disease activity.We included 78 serum samples obtained from 58 BD patients and analyzed a set of proinflammatory
cytokines including
IL-8,
IL-18, IFN-α2a,
IL-6, IFN-γ, CXCL10, CXCL11, and CXCL9 by multiplex bead analysis as well as SAA by
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay.Compared to HC, BD patients showed elevated
cytokine levels of
IL-8,
IL-18, IFN-α2a, and
IL-6, and low levels of CXCL11. BD patients with SAA serum levels >20 mg/L showed higher levels of proinflammatory markers than HC or group with SAA ≤20 mg/L.
IL-18, IFN-α2a, and
IL-6 were higher in BD group with SAA >20 mg/L than HC, while
IL-8 and CXCL9 levels were higher than in patients with SAA ≤20 mg/L and HC.Active BD patients with SAA >20 mg/L exhibited elevated levels of inflammatory mediators, suggesting that may exist a relationship between SAA and proinflammatory
cytokines in the intricate scenario of BD pathogenesis.