Expressions of IL-12 and its receptors in patients with lumbar disc herniation and their relationship with clinical efficacy.

This study aimed to explore the expressions of interleukin-12 (IL-12) and its receptors IL-23R and IL12RB2 in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) before and after treatment and their relationship with clinical efficacy. A total of 172 LDH patients undergoing surgical treatment in Wuhan Third Hospital, Tongren Hospital of Wuhan University were enrolled as the study group, and 170 healthy subjects as the control group. 5 mL of fasting venous blood was taken before surgery (T0), 1 d (T1), 3 d (T2), 5 d (T3) and 7 d (T4) after treatment respectively. The concentrations of IL-12, IL-23R and IL12RB2 in the two groups were detected, and the correlation between them and the treatment duration and clinical efficacy was analyzed. The study group showed significantly higher serum IL-12, IL-23R and IL12RB2 than the control group before treatment (P < 0.001). In the study group, IL-12, IL-23R and IL-12RB2 were the lowest at T4 (P < 0.001), followed by T3 (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in IL-23R at T1 and T0 (P > 0.050), and in IL12RB2 at T1 and T2 (P > 0.050). Spearman rank correlation showed that IL-12, IL-23R, IL12RB2 were negatively correlated with treatment duration in the study group (P < 0.001), and were positively correlated with clinical efficacy (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the concentrations of serum IL-12, IL-23R and IL12RB2 in LDH patients are significantly higher than those in normal controls. Moreover, the concentrations are closely related to the rehabilitation of patients and are expected to become therapeutic targets for LDH.

Influence of vitamin D deficiency on T cell subsets and related indices during spinal tuberculosis.

The present study investigated the effects of vitamin D deficiency on T cell subsets in patients with spinal tuberculosis. In addition, the influence of vitamin D deficiency was investigated on the expression of cytokines IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α in intervertebral disc lesions of patients. One hundred and seventeen patients with spinal tuberculosis who received operative treatment in the Department of Orthopedics in Wuhan City Third Hospital from March 2012 to March 2015 were collected. The patients were divided depending upon vitamin D content into the control group (64 cases, vitamin D content <25 nmol/l) and experimental group (53 cases, vitamin D content >50 nmol/l). Immunofluorescence method was applied to determine the content of T cell subsets in both groups of patients. Intervertebral disc lesion tissues of two groups of patients were obtained during surgery then treated with HE staining and immunohistochemical staining. The values of average optical density obtained under light microscope were observed as the expression quantities of IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α, to explore the relationship between vitamin D and the expression of cytokines. When vitamin D is lacking, the expression of T lymphocyte subsets in patients with spinal tuberculosis significantly decreased. Compared with experimental group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Further, the expression of cytokines IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α in intervertebral disc lesion tissues of patients with spinal tuberculosis were significantly higher than those of patients with spinal tuberculosis whose vitamin D content was normal (P<0.05). In the control group, vitamin D content was negatively correlated with the expression of IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α. The expression of T lymphocyte subsets in patients with vitamin D deficiency was significantly reduced, and the immune function decreased. The expression of IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α in lesions were significantly higher than those of patients with normal vitamin D content. In addition, the lower the content of vitamin D was, the more active the expression of inflammatory factors were, which was not conducive to the recovery of tuberculosis lesions.