Elevated IL-1 alpha and CXCL10 serum levels occur in patients with homozygous sickle cell disease and a history of acute splenic sequestration

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Adel Driss, Emory University; Nana O. Wilson, Emory University; Karlene Mason, Sickle Cell Trust; Hyacinth Hyacinth, Emory University; Jacqueline M. Hibbert, Emory University; Graham R. Serjeant, Sickle Cell Trust; Jonathan K. Stiles, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-01-01
• Publisher: Hindawi
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2012-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/479275
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Disease Markers
• ISSN: 0278-0240
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 295
• End Page: 300
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grant numbers NIH-FIC (1T90-HG004151-01) for postdoctoral training in Genomics and Hemoglobinopathies, NIH/FIC/NINDS R21, NIH-RCMI (RR0330 62), and NIH-NHLBI #R21HL092358-01.
• Keywords: Pathology; acute splenic sequestration; HEMOGLOBIN; splenectomy; GENE; spleen; Medicine, Research & Experimental; Genetics & Heredity; chronic hypersplenism; interleukins; biomarkers; cytokine; Sickle cell anemia; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; Research & Experimental Medicine; Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; POLYMORPHISMS
• Research Categories: Biology, Genetics

Abstract

Acute splenic sequestration (ASS) and chronic hypersplenism are common features of homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease in the first 5 years of life affecting one-third of subjects in the Jamaican Cohort Study. The risk factors are largely unknown and the current study explores a possible role of genetic factors. We have explored these in subjects who received splenectomy in the management of ASS (n=8) or chronic hypersplenism (n=9) along with age, gender, and genotype matched controls using Luminex Technology to assess 42 human cytokines/chemokines, including IL-1α and CXCL10 (IP-10). Levels of IL-1α (p=0.008) and CXCL10 (p=0.009) were significantly elevated in patients treated by splenectomy compared with the control group. Levels of IL-1α were significantly higher in those with a history of ASS compared with matched normal controls (p=0.028) but not in those treated for hypersplenism (p=0.093). Furthermore, several significant differences were found in the median ratios of some cytokine biomarkers between the splenectomized group and the normal controls. These observations are consistent with acute splenic sequestration having a distinct phenotype which may be helpful in predicting those at risk of this complication and suggest that the mechanism of these differences merit further study.