The soluble 60-kDa tumour necrosis factor receptor: no difference found between patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and controls: increasing levels are associated with the recovery from Guillain-Barré syndrome.

We determined serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of the soluble 60-kDa tumour necrosis factor (TNF) receptor (sTNF-R p60) in 50 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) and in 18 patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Neither in serum nor in CSF samples was there a statistically significant difference between mean receptor concentrations of patients with MS (serum: 1064, SD 262 pg/ml; CSF: 555, SD 130 pg/ml), with other noninflammatory neurological diseases (serum: 1008, SD 248 pg/ml; CSF: 530, SD 112 pg/ml) and with healthy control subjects (serum: 918, SD 180 pg/ml). In order to determine disease activity, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was performed in all MS patients. The mean sTNF-R p60 levels of patients who showed gadolinium DTPA enhancement on MRI were not different from those without enhancement (1034, SD 274 pg/ml vs 1099, SD 248 pg/ml in serum samples and 546, SD 109 pg/ml vs 565, SD 152 pg/ml in CSF samples). In GBS, the sTNF-R p60 levels of serum and CSF samples were significantly higher than in MS and all control groups except for the group with viral meningitis (VM) (GBS: 1544, SD 834 pg/ml in serum, 882, SD 147 pg/ml in CSF; VM: 1518, SD 375 pg/ml in serum, 1131, SD 611 pg/ml in CSF; P < 0.001 for serum samples and P < 0.005 for CSF samples). Serial serum sTNF-R p60 measurements in 13 patients with GBS showed an increase in receptor levels parallel with the recovery from the disease (1276, SD 374 pg/ml at the time of disease onset, 1554, SD 482 pg/ml 14-24 days later and 1787, SD 525 pg/ml after 28-32 days). From our results and the conflicting data of previous studies, we could not agree with the suggestion that the assessment of sTNF-R p60 in MS patients is a useful marker for disease activity. In GBS, subsequently increasing sTNF-R p60 levels are associated with recovery from the disease. It remains to be shown whether they might represent a relevant pathogenetic factor during this stage of GBS.