Comparative analysis of cytokine profiles in autoinflammatory and autoimmune conditions.

BACKGROUND: Many disease states are characterized by a biased cytokine profile and determining the level of certain cytokines becomes an important diagnostic and research tool in clinical medicine. We hypothesized that, despite the highly dynamic nature, the profile of cytokines may be characteristic of disease. METHODS: The level of systemic cytokines was studied in an autoinflammatory condition, familial Mediterranean fever; in an autoimmune disease, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and in healthy controls. RESULTS: Multivariate statistics with the use of seven variables clustered the patients and control subjects into the four well separated and distinct groups, corresponding to the SLE, FMF attack, FMF remission, and healthy states. CONCLUSIONS: The model suggested the existence of specific patterns in cytokine levels reflecting the healthy and specific disease states. These findings warrant further investigations to establish whether this approach may serve as a potential meta-biomarker for other inflammatory disorders.

Potential Involvement of Salmonella Infection in Autoimmunity.

In this work, we investigated the potential effects of nontyphoidal Salmonella infection on autoantibody (AA) formation. The titer and profiles of autoantibodies in the sera of patients with acute salmonellosis due to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) or Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) infection, as well as in convalescent patients, were determined with indirect immunofluorescence. A significant increase of autoantibodies in acute diseases caused by both serotypes of Salmonella and during post infection by S. Enteritidis was detected. Antibody profile analysis by multivariate statistics revealed that this increase was non-specific and was not dependent on the infectious agent or disease stage. The results obtained suggest that nontyphoidal Salmonella infection contributes to the generation of autoantibodies and may play a role in autoimmune disease.