Division of Immunology, National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 2013 Aug;73(5):452-5. doi: 10.3109/00365513.2013.798869. Epub 2013 Jun 17.
Cytokines and chemokines are the cell signaling proteins which are considered as important biomarkers of inflammation and immunity. However the fragile nature of these markers results in the concentration variation due to various external factors. We assessed the influence of commonly used anticoagulants (EDTA and heparin) on various cytokine levels from 32 paired plasma samples using highly sensitive multiple cytokine estimation assay. Out of 17 cytokines estimated, 15 were detectable in more than 80% of the samples from both the groups. TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-5, and G-CSF levels were significantly higher (p values < 0.05 for all) in plasma with EDTA, whereas the levels of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17, MIP-1β, GM-CSF and MCP-1 were found to be significantly higher (p values < 0.05 for all) in plasma with heparin. There was no significant difference in the levels of IL-7, IL-12 (P70) and IL-13 in both the groups. The study showed that the anticoagulants significantly affect the measurement of certain cytokines. Hence, it is important to choose an appropriate anticoagulant before the estimation of cytokines for reliable use of plasma cytokines as biomarkers in patient management.
细胞因子和趋化因子是细胞信号蛋白，被认为是炎症和免疫的重要生物标志物。然而，这些标志物的脆弱性质导致浓度因各种外部因素而变化。我们使用高度敏感的多种细胞因子评估了常用抗凝剂（EDTA 和肝素）对来自 32 对血浆样本的各种细胞因子水平的影响。在估计的 17 种细胞因子中，有 15 种在两组的超过 80%的样本中均可检测到。TNF-α、IFN-γ、IL-4、IL-5 和 G-CSF 在 EDTA 血浆中的水平显著更高（所有 p 值均 <0.05），而 IL-6、IL-8、IL-10、IL-17、MIP-1β、GM-CSF 和 MCP-1 在肝素血浆中的水平显著更高（所有 p 值均 <0.05）。两组之间的 IL-7、IL-12（P70）和 IL-13 水平没有显著差异。该研究表明，抗凝剂会显著影响某些细胞因子的测量。因此，在估计细胞因子之前选择合适的抗凝剂对于将血浆细胞因子作为患者管理中的生物标志物的可靠使用非常重要。
