PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - HAILI WANG AU - MICHAEL MOSER AU - MARCUS SCHILTENWOLF AU - MATTHIAS BUCHNER TI - Circulating Cytokine Levels Compared to Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia — A Prospective Longitudinal Study Over 6 Months DP - 2008 Jul 01 TA - The Journal of Rheumatology PG - 1366--1370 VI - 35 IP - 7 4099 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/35/7/1366.short 4100 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/35/7/1366.full SO - J Rheumatol2008 Jul 01; 35 AB - Objective This prospective study examined circulating cytokines in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) over 6 months rather than at only one timepoint, and investigated correlations between serum cytokine concentrations and pain intensity in FM patients receiving multidisciplinary pain therapy. Methods Serum concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and antiinflammatory cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 were measured (Bio-Plex system) in 20 FM patients and 80 healthy subjects on admission and 10, 21, and 180 days after initiation of treatment and correlated to pain intensity. Results On admission, serum levels of IL-8 (p < 0.001) and TNF-α (p < 0.001), but not IL-6, were elevated in patients with FM. No significant difference in IL-4 and IL-10 was found between FM patients and controls. High IL-8 levels remained consistent during the followup, but TNF-α was already reduced after 10 days and until 6 months after therapy. After 6 months’ treatment with multidisciplinary pain therapy, IL-8 and TNF-α levels were significantly lower than at the beginning (p < 0.05 for IL-8, p < 0.001 for TNF-α). IL-8 but not TNF-α serum levels were correlated with pain intensity (r = −0.782, p = 0.001) in FM patients after 6 months’ multidisciplinary pain therapy. Conclusion Our results suggest that proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-8 are involved in FM, but they do not apparently provoke the pain of FM directly. Multidisciplinary pain therapy modified the cytokine profile in patients with FM during the observation period.