Table II.
Inflammatory profile of normal subjects, untreated RR MS patients, and in vivo three-month treated RR MS patients with IFN β-1a Rebif or Avonex.
| Gene | Normal Subjects | Untreated MS Patients | Rebif MS Patients | Avonex MS Patients | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cytokine Levels in Plasma (pg/mL) | IFN-γ | 10±4 | 569±207† | 467±262 | 512±311 |
| IL-4 | 12±7 | 201±81† | 207±102 | 143±78 | |
| IL-13 | 67±26 | 523±125† | 212±82*$ | 381±113 | |
| TNF-α | 33±8 | 390±156† | 243±92* | 267±125* | |
| IL-6 | 18±5 | 152±28† | 97±25* | 83±42 * | |
| mRNA levels (relative to normal subjects | IP-10 | 1±0.2 | 3.2±1.3† | 12.4±3.3*$ | 6.3±2.4* |
| Caspase 1 | 1±0.3 | 2.5±0.6 | 6.3±2.0* | 4.2±2.6 | |
| RANTES | 1±0.1 | 12.3±2.7† | 4.4±1.9*$ | 8.7±2.3* | |
| MMP9 | 1±0.2 | 4.2±0.9† | 2.2±0.7* | 3.3±1.0 | |
| VCAM1 | 1±0.4 | 6.4±2.1† | 2.5±1.2* | 4.1±1.7 | |
| COX-2 | 1±0.1 | 7.2±1.8† | 3.8±1.3*$ | 5.1±0.6* | |
| CCL17 | 1±0.2 | 4.1±0.6† | 1.6±0.5*$ | 3.0±0.9 | |
| ADAM8 | 1±0.4 | 4.9±1.0† | 2.3±1.2*$ | 3.8±0.7* | |
| Arginase I | 1±0.2 | 3.7±0.6† | 2.1±0.9* | 2.4±0.8* | |
| CXCR3 | 1±0.2 | 1.7±0.5 | 1.3±0.2 | 1.9±0.6 | |
| CCR4 | 1±0.3 | 1.5±0.4 | 1.2±0.7 | 1.3±0.4 | |
| SHP-1 | 1±0.1 | 0.5±0.1† | 2.2±0.4* | 1.7±0.4* | |
| Actin | 1±0.1 | 1.0±0.2 | 1.1±0.3 | 1.2±0.3 | |
| GAPDH | 1±0.1 | 1.1±0.2 | 0.9±0.2 | 1.1±0.3 |
Several inflammatory indicators were quantified in the plasma or in freshly isolated PBMCs of normal subjects (n=32), untreated RR MS patients (n=32), and Rebif-treated RR MS patients (n=10) or Avonex (n=10). The levels of the cytokines IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-4, and IL-13 were quantified in the plasma by ELISA and are recorded in pg cytokine per mL plasma. The mRNA levels of chemokine IP-10/CXCL10, Caspase 1, the T-cell chemokine RANTES, the metalloprotease MMP9, the vascular adhesion molecule VCAM 1, the cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), the chemokine CCL17/TARC, the protease ADAM8, the enzyme arginase I, the chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR4, the tyrosine protein phosphatase SHP-1, and the housekeeping control genes beta-actin and GAPDH were quantified by real-time RT-PCR in freshly isolated PBMCs of normal subjects, MS patients, and IFN-β treated MS patients. The mRNA levels were normalized to the levels of normal subjects that are shown as 1. The values indicate statistical means ± standard error values,
indicates significance of P<0.05 between normal subjects and untreated MS patients and
indicates significance of P<0.05 between untreated and IFN-β treated MS patients, and
indicates significance between Rebif treated and Avonex treated patients.