Significance of Elevated Interleukin-6 Level in Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

IL-6 is supposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of anemia of chronic disease (ACD) and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). We investigated IL-6 in the plasma and bone marrow in patients of JRA with and without ACD to study its significance during the course of the disease and its role in the pathogenesis of ACD in JRA. The level of IL-6 was measured with ELISA in the plasma and supernatant of bone marrow (BM) of 25 patients with JRA (10 patients had systemic onset, 15 polyarticular onset), 14 patients with systemic JRA and ACD and 11 patients with JRA without anemia. In addition IL-6 examined in 10 healthy children. We found that IL-6 level was significantly (p<0.001) higher in patients with systemic JRA, but not in patients with polyarticular JRA than those of healthy controls. Also, IL-6 level was significantly higher in patients with persistence of systemic symptoms than patients in remission (p<0.001). In patients with JRA and anemia the level of IL-6 was significantly higher in the bone marrow supernatant than those without anemia (p<0.001). There was a negative correlation between bone marrow IL-6 and Hb. Significance of Elevated IL-6 Level in JRA Attwa & Beltagy 820 Our findings suggested that the use of IL-6 as a predictive parameter for the development of ACD with JRA. We recommend the use of anti -IL-6 antibodies in the therapy of those patients.