IL-1β, IL-6 and IL1Ra levels in temporal lobe epilepsy

PURPOSE There is now extensive evidence to support the involvement of inflammation in the course of epileptic seizures. Seizure-induced changes in serum IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-1Ra levels are reported in several studies. Serum cytokine levels may also be disturbed in inter-ictal period due to seizure activity. METHODS Twenty-one patients (12 women; mean age 35±12.3) with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), 17 patients (8 women; mean age 31.8±10.4) with extra-temporal lobe epilepsy (XLE) and 20 normal controls (10 women; mean age 35.6±8.8) were included in the study. Serum levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-1Ra of the TLE, XLE groups in inter-ictal period and of the normal control group were compared. RESULTS All three cytokine levels are found to be significantly elevated in epilepsy patients when compared to controls (p<0.05). In TLE group, IL-1β serum levels were significantly higher than in the XLE group (p<0001). CONCLUSION The major findings in our study were increased levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-1Ra in epileptic patients and high levels of IL-1β in TLE group. Our results support the existence of a chronic inflammatory state in epileptic patients.