Yuko Yamakawa,
Yasuyuki Sugita,
Tetsuo Nagatani,
Sanami Takahashi,
Tadashi Yamakawa,
Shun-ichi Tanaka,
Satoshi Nakamura,
Shigeaki Ohno,
Hisahiko Sekihara, Kenji Okuda,
Hiroshi Nakajima
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ABSTRACT: We have examined the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in plasma and supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with Behçet's disease and healthy controls using a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Plasma IL-6 level was not detected in any subjects. The IL-6 concentrations in culture supernatants of patients with active Behçet's disease were significantly high compared with patients with inactive disease and healthy controls. Moreover, we investigated IL-6 gene expression in cultured PBMC from patients with Behçet's disease. IL-6 gene expression was enhanced in active patients compared with inactive patients. These results show that IL-6 may play a role in the pathogenesis of Behçet's disease.
Journal of Dermatological Science.