Selected pro-inflammatory cytokines, bone metabolism, osteoprotegerin, and receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB ligand in girls with anorexia nervosa.

INTRODUCTION

It has been indicated that disturbances in the production of certain pro-inflammatory cytokines might contribute to the development of osteoporosis in girls with anorexia nervosa (AN). The aim of the study was to determine whether girls with AN exhibited a relationship between IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, bone turnover markers (OC and CTx), OPG, sRANKL, and the OPG/sRANKL ratio.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Serum IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, OC, CTx, OPG, and sRANKL were determined by ELISA in 59 girls with AN and in 17 healthy counterparts, aged 13 to 17 years.

RESULTS

Girls with AN showed significant reduction in body weight, BMI, BMI-SDS, and Cole index compared to the controls. These changes were associated with a significant increase in IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, OPG, and sRANKL concentrations and a decrease in bone markers and the OPG/sRANKL ratio. Significant negative correlations were found between BMI, the Cole index and CTx, OPG (girls with AN); between BMI and OC, CTx as well as the Cole index and CTx (the control group - C); between BMI, the Cole index and IL-β1, IL-6, TNF-α, CTx in all study participants (group AN+C). The combined group AN+C also exhibited positive correlation between BMI, the Cole index, and the OPG/sRANKL ratio. Girls with AN showed positive correlations between IL-1β, IL-6, and CTx as well as between TNF-α and sRANKL whereas the correlation between TNF-α and the OPG/sRANKL ratio was negative (IL-6 and IL-1β were identified to be independent predictors of CTx, TNF-α and IL-6 independently predicted sRANKL while TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β were independent predictors of the OPG/sRANKL ratio). The control participants exhibited negative correlations between IL-1β and OPG and positive correlations between IL-1β and sRANKL (IL-1β was found to be an independent predictor of OPG and sRANKL). In the AN+C group, IL-1β correlated negatively with OC and OPG and positively with sRANKL, while IL-6 and TNF-α positively correlated with CTx (IL-6 and TNF-α turned out to be independent predictors of CTx, IL-1β of OPG while IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β were independent predictors of sRANKL and the OPG/sRANKL ratio).

CONCLUSIONS

The relationship between the nutritional status and IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α concentrations as well as bone status indicators seems to indicate that abnormalities observed regarding the concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and bone remodelling in girls with AN might result from malnutrition. Correlations between IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, bone markers, OPG, its ligand sRANKL, and/or the OPG/sRANKL ratio suggest potential involvement of these cytokines in the mechanism underlying the lack of the expected bone mineral density increase in adolescent girls.