Serum cytokine levels in controls and patients with IPF and SSc (exploratory set). All cytokine levels are expressed as geometric means (95% CI), except for FGF2 and CX3CL1, analyzed as percentage present greater than threshold value of detection (> 80 pg/ml for FGF2, > 400 pg/ml for CX3CL1).
| Cytokine | Controls | IPF | SSc |
|---|---|---|---|
| IL-6, pg/ml | 3 (2.1–4.5) | 7.3 (5.1–10.2)**†† | 8.0 (5.8–10.9)**†† |
| IL-8, pg/ml | 30.2 (10.0–91.1) | 51.8 (29.4–91.5) | 26.0 (17.0–39.7) |
| CCL2, pg/ml | 529.8 (387.5–724.3) | 876.9 (757.0–1015.7)**†† | 672.5 (537.6–841.1)**† |
| IL-10, pg/ml | 2.7 (2.5–3.0) | 3.7 (3.1–4.4)* | 4.8 (3.7–6.2)* |
| CXCL10, pg/ml | 416.5 (347.6–499.1) | 764.5 (643.2–908.6)***†† | 638.1 (469.4–867.4)**†† |
| VEGF, pg/ml | 145.2 (101.6–207.4) | 236.1 (190.9–292.1)* | 212.9 (169.9–266.9) |
| FGF2, % | 10 (0–20) | 19 (0–30) | 26 (20–40) |
| CX3CL1, % | 10 (0–20) | 9 (0–20) | 20 (10–30) |
CCL2: chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2; CXCL10: chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 10; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor; FGF2: fibroblast growth factor 2; CX3CL1: chemokine (C-X3-C motif) ligand 1; IPF: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; SSc: systemic sclerosis.
↵* p = 0.01–0.05;
↵** p = 0.0001–0.01;
↵*** p ≤ 0.0001 vs controls;
↵† p = 0.02 vs IPF:
↵†† p < 0.05 after Bonferroni correction. IL: interleukin.