[Detection of interleukin-6 in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neuroimmunological diseases].

We quantitatively measured interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in sera and cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) of patients with neuroimmunological diseases. Measurements were carried out by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with anti-human IL-6 monoclonal antibody. The upper limit of IL-6 levels in the sera of normal controls was 15 pg/ml. Significant elevations of IL-6 levels were observed in the sera of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) (212 +/- 320 pg/ml), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (90 +/- 62 pg/ml), myasthenia gravis (41 +/- 22 pg/ml), and polymyositis (119 +/- 72 pg/ml), when compared to those of controls (p < 0.05). The upper limit of IL-6 levels in the CSF of normal controls was 6.5 pg/ml. A significant elevation of IL-6 levels was observed in the CSF of patients with MS (131 +/- 307 pg/ml) (p < 0.05). However, no significant elevation of IL-6 levels was observed in the CSF of patients with GBS. The correlation indexes between CSF IL-6 and cell count, total protein levels, IgG levels in the CSF of MS patients were 0.776 (p < 0.001), 0.769 (p < 0.001) and 0.759 (p < 0.001), respectively. Serum IL-6 was not correlated with CSF IL-6 in MS patients. The elevated levels of IL-6 in the patients with these neuroimmunological diseases suggest that B-cells may be polyclonally activated in the sera of patients with these disorders.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)