Cytokines for evaluation of chronic inflammatory status in ageing research: reliability and phenotypic characterisation

Abstract

Background There is a growing interest in the role of inflammageing for chronic disease development. Cytokines are potent soluble immune mediators that can be used as target biomarkers of inflammageing; however, their measurement in human samples has been challenging. This study aimed to assess the reliability of a pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine panel in a sample of healthy people measured with a novel electrochemiluminescent multiplex immunoassay platform (Meso Scale Discovery, MSD), and to characterize their associations with metabolic and inflammatory phenotypes. Results Overall, the majority of cytokines were above the limit of detection (in at least 85.3% of the samples). Cytokines IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, IL-10, IL-13, and IFN-γ showed overall good to fair reliability (ICC > 0.40), whereas IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-12p70 showed poor reliability (ICC < 0.40). The reliability estimates were not substantially influenced by participants’ age, sex, obesity and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. As expected, cytokine concentrations were elevated with advanced age most pronouncedly for IL-6, IL-8, Il-2, IFN- γ, and TNF-α. No major associations with metabolic phenotypes were observed for most cytokines, with the exception of a positive association between IL-6 and TNF-α with body mass index and CRP (ρ: 0.36; ρ: 0.20; ρ: 0.53; ρ: 0.22, respectively), and IFN-γ and IL-10 with CRP (ρ: 0.23 and ρ: 0.19, respectively). Conclusions Single measurements of selected cytokines using MSD platform, including IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-13, TNF-α, and IFN-γ have shown to be representative of an individual’s average level over time and could be suitable for use in prospective epidemiological and clinical studies. Such studies are highly warranted to characterize associations of cytokines with phenotypes and diseases associated with ageing. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12979-019-0151-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Uremia-Associated Ageing of the Thymus and Adaptive Immune Responses

“…In parallel with this progressive loss in functional capacity, there may be an increase in the pro-inflammatory status, as evidenced by slightly elevated serum C-reactive protein levels, increased concentrations of serum IL-6 and TNF-alfa, and an expansion of pro-inflammatory T cell population [19]. This combination of events has been coined inflammaging and is considered to contribute to the morbidity and mortality in elderly patients [20].…”

Immunological Changes During Space Travel: A Ground-Based Evaluation of the Impact of Neutron Dose Rate on Plasma Cytokine Levels in Human Whole Blood Cultures

“…Written, informed consent was obtained from nonsmoking, non-medicating, male volunteers with no diagnosed history of chronic illness (n = 8; age range: 22-63 years). Due to the known variability in cytokine response between individual subjects and the small sample size of this pilot study, the study was restricted to male adult volunteers to limit the potential influence of gender on the circulating cytokines levels in baseline samples [52]. Peripheral blood samples were collected into heparin-treated vacutainers (Becton Dickinson Company, New Jersey, USA) and stored at room temperature before irradiation.…”

T cell phenotypes associated with insulin resistance: Results from the Berlin Aging Study II

“…Cytokines can be used as target biomarkers for immune response and in ammaging. Recently, IL-6, which is known to be a main stimulator of the production of acute-phase proteins, was shown to be elevated with advanced age in a sample of healthy people and correlated with BMI and CRP levels (47). IL-6 has pleiotropic effects on in ammation, immune response, and hematopoiesis, but dysregulated synthesis of IL-6 plays a pathological effect on chronic in ammation and autoimmunity.…”