Elevation of Inflammatory Cytokines and Proteins after Intra-Articular Ankle Fracture: A Cross-Sectional Study of 47 Ankle Fracture Patients
Table 1
Cytokine level in fractured ankles compared to healthy contralateral ankles.
Fractured ankles (pg/mL) median (IQR)
Contralateral ankles (pg/mL) median (IQR)
value
Cytokine ratio (fractured/contralateral)
Correlation with time after injury (0-13 days) value (rho)
Proinflammatory
IL-1α
0.0012 (0.0132)
0.0071 (0.0000)
0.77
1.2
0.03 (-0.318)
IL-1β
4.98 (7.96)
0.13 (0.00)
<0.0001
41.7
0.37 (-0.134)
IL-2
3.30 (5.36)
0.48 (0.00)
<0.0001
9.1
0.53 (-0.094)
IL-6
1914.6 (1357.2)
0.22 (0.00)
<0.0001
406.1
0.01 (-0.362)
IL-8
490.8 (905.5)
1.06 (1.37)
<0.0001
245.3
0.91 (0.017)
IL-12p70
7.07 (13.08)
0.93 (0.00)
<0.0001
13.5
0.009 (-0.375)
TNF-α
7.47 (11.66)
0.4030 (0.1220)
<0.0001
24.5
0.52 (-0.095))
TNF-β
0.000042 (0.000011)
0.000046 (0.00000)
Below LLOD
0.9
0.225 (-0.194)
IFN-y
29.15 (44.01)
3.82 (0.00)
<0.0001
10.2
0.03 (-0.322)
MMP-1
289571.1 (216061.4))
47.3 (1144.9)
<0.0001
130.2
<0.0001 (0.683)
MMP-3
289571.4 (356207.6)
7966.8 (16260.4)
<0.0001
21.8
0.0008 (0.505)
MMP-9
106324.0 (193994.9)
122.5 (4907.7)
<0.0001
33.2
0.003 (-0.448)
Anti-inflammatory
IL-1RA
1616.2 (3956.9)
0.30 (6.10)
<0.0001
302.9
0.25 (-0.170)
IL-4
0.72 (1.21)
0.06 (0.00)
<0.0001
14.6
0.03 (-0.319)
IL-10
3.08 (5.47)
0.09 (0.03)
<0.0001
26.7
0.26 (-0.169)
IL-13
48.4 (49.6)
4.53 (0.00)
<0.0001
14.3
0.45 (-0.113)
Cartilage degradation
ACG
1829.0 (1062.0)
1084.0 (733.0)
0.0054
1.6
0.47 (0.124)
CTX-2
281.1 (240.1)
161.3 (56.0)
0.0021
1.8
0.52 (-0.110)
Metabolic
bFGF
64.1 (149.1)
43.2 (53.4)
0.051
1.9
0.004 (-0.472)
TGF-β1
2541.3 (4289.5)
344.6 (408.3)
<0.0001
6.9
0.06 (-0.317)
TGF-β2
53.9 (49.5)
17.5 (26.1)
0.0010
1.8
0.46 (-0.126)
TGF-β3
3.22 (5.96)
6.35 (0.00)
0.75
1.1
0.0002 (0.578)
Abbreviation: IQR: interquartile range; LLOD: lower limit of detection. Data in bold indicate a significant difference in cytokine levels. Several cytokines were significantly elevated in fracture ankles compared to contralateral healthy ankles. In addition, the cytokine level changed significantly depending on time since injury.
