The content of cytokines in the blood serum of patients with early latent syphilis in process of treatment

Objective – to study the concentration of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in patients with early latent syphilis before and after treatment. The study was conducted in 112 patients with early latent syphilis (52 men and 60 women) and 15 healthy persons of the control group – all aged 18-43. Serological tests were used: the classical complex of serological reactions (CSR), ELISA, the reaction of passive hemagglutination (RPGA), immunofluorescence reaction with absorption (RIF-abs) and RIF-200. Using ELISA, the levels of cytokines IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, TNFα, and INFγ were determined in serum (in patients with latent syphilis, before and after treatment). The analysis of the received data was carried out with application of the program package Statistics 6.0. To identify the relationships between the indices, Friedman's nonparametric variance analysis with the definition of χ2 was used. The concentration of IL-10 before treatment in patients with early latent syphilis was significantly increased by 3.7 (14.9±0.9 pg/ml compared to the control group 4.11±0.5 pg/ml). The dependence of the content of this cytokine on the period of infection was established. It was found that one year after treatment concentration of IL-10 remained 1.8 times higher. The concentration of IL-6 was increased by 6.5 times in patients with latent early syphilis and was also dependent on the period of the infection, and also even 1.5-2 years after treatment the IL-6 content remained elevated. It was also found that in patients with latent early syphilis the concentration of IL-2 was increased by 2.3 times and it did not normalize in 24.5% of patients even two years after treatment. In patients with latent early syphilis, the concentration of TNFα was increased by 3.6 times. After treatment, the concentration of TNFα decreased, but exceeded the control values by 1.55 times. Further analysis of the concentration of TNFα revealed that, with a disease period of up to one year, the concentration of this cytokine was normal during ten months after treatment, and in patients with the disease period of more than one year, after treatment normalization of the TNFα level was absent in 64.5% even after 18 months. It was found that the concentration of INFγ in patients with early latent syphilis before treatment was increased by 3.8 times in comparison with the control group. After treatment, almost 25 % of patients with the duration of the infection more than one year revealed no normalization of INFγ and it was increased by 1.5 times. In patients with latent early syphilis there was a significant increase in the concentration of cytokines TNFα and INFγ, an imbalance of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10 as well as. The dependence of the cytokine concentration on the period of infection is noted. Based on the study of the cytokine status in patients with early latent syphilis with periods of infection of more than one year, the use of immunomodulatory therapy may be recommended. Increasing the concentration of such cytokines as TNFα, IL-6, IL-10 after treatment can be used as prognostic tests of serological resistance.