%A Fafutis-Morris M %A Guillen-Vargas CM %A Navarro-Fierro S %A Morales-Ortiz R %A Armendariz-Borunda J %T Serum IL-1ra is elevated in lepromatous leprosy patients %0 Journal Article %D 1999 %J International Journal of Leprosy and other Mycobacterial Diseases %P 0148-916X %V 67 %N 3 %X Patterns of production of specific cytokines are accepted as standards for T-lymphocyte subsets in diseases caused by intracellular parasites. These lymphocyte subsets (Th1 and Th2) have been associated with the different poles of the leprosy spectrum. Lepromatous leprosy (LL) onset correlates with cytokines produced by Th2 cells on the grounds of the patient's poor cellular immune response, i.e., interleukin 2 (IL-2) and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) deficiency. On the other hand, tuberculoid leprosy (TL) has been associated with a Th1 response. Moreover, pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) play a major role in chronic inflammatory pathologies being IL- 1ra and TNF-α soluble receptors, natural counterbalancing inhibitors. In light of this background, we decided to measure serum levels of IL-1β, IL-1ra, TNF-α and IL-6 in LL and TL patients, and we also studied the production in vitro of Th1 (IFN-γ, IL-2), Th2 (IL-4, IL-10) and TNF-α cytokines. Our data showed that IL-1ra is highly elevated in sera f rom LL patients; there were no differences in Th2 cytokine levels and there were diminished levels in Th1 cytokines.<