Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey
Department of Medical Biology, İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey
Balkan Med J. 2018 May 29;35(3):250-255. doi: 10.4274/balkanmedj.2017.0323. Epub 2018 Feb 27.
Carotid artery stenosis is the atherosclerotic narrowing of the proximal internal carotid artery and one of the primary causes of stroke. Elevated expression of the pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-18 has been demonstrated in human atherosclerotic plaques.
To investigate whether the mRNA expression levels of interleukin-18 and interleukin-18-binding protein and interleukin-18 −137 G/C (rs187238) variants are associated with carotid artery stenosis development.
Case-control study.
The mRNA expression levels of interleukin-18 and interleukin-18-binding protein and interleukin-18 rs187238 variants were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively, in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 70 patients with carotid artery stenosis (36 symptomatic, 34 asymptomatic) and 75 healthy controls.
Interleukin-18 mRNA expression was significantly increased in carotid artery stenosis patients compared to that in healthy controls (p=0.01). However, no significant difference was observed between interleukin-18-binding protein mRNA expression levels in patients with carotid artery stenosis and those in controls (p=0.101). Internal carotid artery stenosis severity was significantly higher in symptomatic patients than that in asymptomatic patients (p<0.001). A significant relationship was identified between interleukin-18 expression and internal carotid artery stenosis severity in patients with carotid artery stenosis (p=0.051). Interleukin-18 rs187238 polymorphism genotype frequencies did not significantly differ between patients with carotid artery stenosis and controls (p=0.246). A significant difference was identified between interleukin-18-binding protein gene expression and symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (p=0.026), but there was no difference in interleukin-18 expression between the symptomatic and asymptomatic subgroups (p=0.397).
Interleukin-18 mRNA expression may affect carotid artery stenosis etiopathogenesis and internal carotid artery stenosis severity and also may play a mechanistic role in the pathogenesis of carotid artery stenosis, influencing the appearance of symptoms.
颈动脉狭窄是近端颈内动脉的动脉粥样硬化性狭窄，是中风的主要原因之一。在人类动脉粥样硬化斑块中，已证实多效性前炎性细胞因子白细胞介素-18 的表达升高。
研究白细胞介素-18 和白细胞介素-18 结合蛋白及白细胞介素-18-137G/C(rs187238) 变异的 mRNA 表达水平是否与颈动脉狭窄的发展有关。
病例对照研究。
通过定量实时聚合酶链反应和实时聚合酶链反应，分别评估白细胞介素-18 和白细胞介素-18 结合蛋白及白细胞介素-18 rs187238 变异在 70 例颈动脉狭窄患者(36 例有症状，34 例无症状)和 75 例健康对照者的外周血单个核细胞中的 mRNA 表达水平。
与健康对照组相比，颈动脉狭窄患者的白细胞介素-18mRNA 表达显著增加(p=0.01)。然而，颈动脉狭窄患者白细胞介素-18 结合蛋白 mRNA 表达水平与对照组相比无显著差异(p=0.101)。有症状患者的颈内动脉狭窄程度明显高于无症状患者(p<0.001)。在颈动脉狭窄患者中，白细胞介素-18 的表达与颈内动脉狭窄程度之间存在显著的相关性(p=0.051)。颈动脉狭窄患者与对照组白细胞介素-18rs187238 多态性基因型频率无显著差异(p=0.246)。白细胞介素-18 结合蛋白基因表达在有症状和无症状患者之间存在显著差异(p=0.026)，但在有症状和无症状亚组之间白细胞介素-18 的表达无差异(p=0.397)。
白细胞介素-18mRNA 表达可能影响颈动脉狭窄的发病机制和颈内动脉狭窄的严重程度，并可能在颈动脉狭窄的发病机制中发挥机制作用，影响症状的出现。
