Expression of Inflammatory Cytokines in Peripheral Blood of Gout Patients

期刊連結：http://www.gouthyperuricemia.com Objective: To clearly picture the functions of serum NALP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein(ASC), Caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 and search for inflammatory markers of acute gouty attack. Methods: 72 patients with acute gout, 83 patients with chronic gout and 80 healthy controls were enrolled to detect serum NALP3, ASC and so on. Characteristics on the expression of these inflammatory cytokines in 3 groups were studied. Results: Level of NALP3 in acute gout, chronic gout and healthy control group were without noticeably statistical significance (p>0.05). The expression of Caspase-1 in patients with acute gout was higher than patients with chronic gout (p=0.025), and both groups presented an obvious difference with the healthy control group (p=0.000, 0.001). Serum ASC of patients in acute and chronic gout groups were significantly higher than that of the healthy control group (p=0.040, 0.000). Statistical significance was also found between first two groups (p=0.029). The expression of IL-18 in acute gout patients was significantly higher than chronic gout patients and healthy people (p=0.000, 0.000). Serum IL-1β of patients in acute and chronic gout groups were significantly lower than that of the healthy control groups (p=0.000, 0.003). Conclusion: IL-18, Caspase-1 and ASC are three inflammatory cytokines involved in the process of gout attack, in which only IL-18 and Caspase-1 could be adopted as inflammatory markers for acute gout. ASC is only partly involved in the development of gout.