Table 2.
Cytokine level in implant removal compared to fractured and healthy contralateral ankles.
| Implant removal ankles pg/mL median (IQR) | Fractured ankles pg/mL median (IQR) | Contralateral ankles pg/mL median (IQR) | Cytokine ratio (fracture/implant removal) | Cytokine ratio (implant removal/contralateral) | p value (fractured vs implant removal) | p value (implant removal vs contralateral) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proinflammatory | IL-1α | 0.0135 (0.000) | 0.0012 (0.013) | 0.0071 (0.0000) | 0.6 | 1.9 | 0.070 | 0.0003 |
| IL-1β | 0.67 (0.00) | 4.98 (7.96) | 0.13 (0.000) | 185.0 | 2.0 | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | |
| IL-2 | 0.71 (0.00) | 3.30 (5.36) | 0.48 (0.00) | 6.3 | 1.4 | 0.006 | <0.0001 | |
| IL-6 | 0.48 (2.74) | 1914.6 (1357.2) | 0.22 (0.00) | 72.0 | 5.4 | <0.0001 | 0.0019 | |
| IL-8 | 1.16 (2.73) | 490.8 (905.5) | 1.06 (1.37) | 171.2 | 1.3 | <0.0001 | 0.84 | |
| IL-12p70 | 0.72 (0.00) | 7.07 (13.08) | 0.93 (0.00) | 18.0 | 0.7 | <0.0001 | 0.001 | |
| TNF-α | 0.56 (0.10) | 7.47 (11.66) | 0.40 (0.12) | 19.4 | 1.2 | <0.0001 | 0.0004 | |
| TNF-β | 0.000042 (0.00000) | 0.000042 (0.000011) | 0.000046 (0.00000) | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.012 | <0.0001 | |
| IFN-y | 4.78 (0.00) | 29.15 (44.01) | 3.82 (0.00) | 7.5 | 1.3 | 0.008 | <0.0001 | |
| MMP-1 | 224.7 (704.1) | 289571.1 (216061.4)) | 47.28 (1144.9) | 573.5 | 0.2 | <0.0001 | 0.90 | |
| MMP-3 | 1325.0 (2536.9) | 289571.4 (356207.6) | 7966.8 (16260.4) | 216.5 | 0.1 | <0.0001 | 0.01 | |
| MMP-9 | 52.5 (2052.5) | 106324.0 (193994.9) | 122.5 (4907.7) | 150.8 | 0.3 | <0.0001 | 0.08 | |
| Anti-inflammatory | IL-1RA | 0.47 (7.30) | 1616.2 (3956.9) | 0.30 (6.10) | 559.9 | 0.5 | <0.0001 | 0.56 |
| IL-4 | 0.11 (0.00) | 0.72 (1.21) | 0.06 (0.00) | 6.0 | 2.2 | 0.002 | 0.0001 | |
| IL-10 | 0.32 (0.00) | 3.08 (5.47) | 0.09 (0.03) | 375.6 | 0.1 | <0.0001 | 0.0001 | |
| IL-13 | 4.44 (0.00) | 48.35 (49.60) | 4.53 (0.00) | 12.8 | 1.0 | <0.0001 | 0.06 | |
| Cartilage degradation | ACG | 1033.0 (316.0) | 1829.0 (1062.0) | 1084.0 (733.0) | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.020 | 0.86 |
| CTX-2 | 61.8 (0.0) | 281.1 (240.1) | 161.3 (56.0) | 5.0 | 0.4 | 0.003 | 0.0025 | |
| Metabolic | bFGF | 24.7 (5.1) | 64.1 (149.1) | 43.2 (53.4) | 7.4 | 0.4 | 0.091 | 0.23 |
| TGF-β1 | 53.0 (234.7) | 2541.3 (4289.5) | 344.6 (408.3) | 34.9 | 0.2 | <0.0001 | 0.0085 | |
| TGF-β2 | 1.96 (2.83) | 53.9 (49.5) | 17.5 (26.1) | 10.9 | 0.2 | <0.0001 | 0.0004 | |
| TGF-β3 | 0.86 (0.30) | 3.22 (5.96) | 6.35 (0.00) | 4.7 | 0.2 | <0.0001 | 0.75 |
Abbreviation: IQR: interquartile range. Data in bold indicate a significant difference in cytokine levels. Acute fractured ankles had significantly elevated levels of nearly all cytokines except from IL-1α and TGF-β1 compared to levels in implant removal ankles. The cytokine levels in implant removal and healthy contralateral ankles were overall significantly different. However, the ratio illustrated a double directional pattern. The cytokine levels in implant removal and healthy contralateral ankles were nearly all below the lower limit of detection, as illustrated in Additional file 1.