Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Shahr-e-kord University of Medical Sciences, Shahr-e-kord, Iran.
Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2020 Oct 18;19(5):534-538. doi: 10.18502/ijaai.v19i5.4470.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, in which proinflammatory cytokines play a critical role in the pathogenic formation of lesions. Caspase-1 is a cysteine protease that proteolytically cleaves precursors of interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-1β and turns them into their active forms. These inflammatory cytokines play an important role in the development of MS. The aim of the present study was the investigation of caspase-1 and its downstream products, IL-18 and IL-1β, in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients. In this study, we used an ELISA assay to measure serum and cellular caspase-1 and serum levels of IL-18 and IL-1β in RRMS patients in the relapse phase (n=23) and healthy age-and gender-matched controls (n=19). We observed that the caspase-1 level was significantly increased in the serum of MS patients compared to the healthy controls (p=0.03). Although caspase-1 concentration in the lysate of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was higher than serum among patients and controls (p<0.001), no significant difference was found in cellular levels of caspase-1 between the two groups. There was no significant difference in serum levels of IL-18 and IL-1β between patients and controls. In this study, we found an elevation of extracellular caspase-1, as a reflection of its intracellular level, in the serum of RRMS patients during the relapse phase. Therefore, it suggests being a suitable peripheral biomarker of disease activity in multiple sclerosis.
多发性硬化症（MS）是一种中枢神经系统的炎症性自身免疫性疾病，其中促炎细胞因子在病变的发病形成中起着关键作用。半胱天冬酶-1 是一种半胱氨酸蛋白酶，可蛋白水解切割白细胞介素（IL）-18 和 IL-1β 的前体，并将其转化为其活性形式。这些炎症细胞因子在 MS 的发展中起着重要作用。本研究旨在研究 MS 缓解复发期（RRMS）患者中的半胱天冬酶-1 及其下游产物 IL-18 和 IL-1β。在这项研究中，我们使用 ELISA 测定法来测量 RRMS 患者（n=23）和健康年龄和性别匹配对照者（n=19）在复发期的血清和细胞半胱天冬酶-1 以及血清 IL-18 和 IL-1β 水平。我们观察到，与健康对照组相比，MS 患者的血清中半胱天冬酶-1 水平显着升高（p=0.03）。尽管患者和对照组的外周血单核细胞（PBMC）裂解物中的半胱天冬酶-1浓度均高于血清（p<0.001），但两组之间细胞内半胱天冬酶-1水平无显着差异。患者和对照组之间血清中 IL-18 和 IL-1β 的水平无显着差异。在这项研究中，我们发现 RRMS 患者在复发期的血清中存在细胞外半胱天冬酶-1升高，这反映了其细胞内水平。因此，它提示可能是多发性硬化症疾病活动的合适外周生物标志物。
