Increased Serum Interleukin-2 Levels Are Associated with Abnormal Peripheral Blood Natural Killer Cell Levels in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis
Table 2
Serum cytokine levels of RA patients in each disease activity group.
Cytokine (pg/ml)
Remission group (A) ()
Low disease activity group (B) ()
Moderate-high disease activity group (C) ()
, A vs. B
, A vs. C
, B vs. C
IL-2
3.39 2.49-6.25
3.71 1.67-5.29
8.03 3.52-18.07
0.893
0.002
0.001
IL-4
2.92 1.16-3.89
2.13 1.52-4.22
4.23 2.05-7.88
0.991
0.044
0.029
IL-6
13.05 6.53-31.07
16.12 7.22-46.40
47.85 22.20-109.12
0.473
<0.001
0.001
IL-10
5.83 2.95-8.41
4.67 3.07-7.91
9.28 3.33-15.20
0.600
0.068
0.024
INF-γ
6.45 3.69-9.75
4.39 2.20-10.52
13.11 5.70-23.32
0.460
0.006
<0.001
TNF-α
5.93 2.57-14.69
2.78 1.90-8.05
7.78 3.88-15.58
0.067
0.367
0.005
Results are expressed as the median and 25th and 75th percentiles. Statistics: Wilcoxon’s rank sum test. Abbreviations: IL-2: interleukin-2; IL-4: interleukin-4; IL-6: interleukin-6; IL-10: interleukin-10; INF-γ: interferon-γ; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor-α.
