Role of T-cells related cytokines (IL-35 and IL-12) in the pathogenesis of persistent and chronic immune thrombocytopenia / Amira Adel Elsaeed Elsobky ; Supervised Nehad Mohamed Tawfik , Noha Mohamed Elhusseiny , Mohamed Ahmed Fateen

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology

IL-12 is the first cytokine shown to be able to drive the differentiation of naive T-cells into Th1 cells, since IL-12 can induce or promote the generation of pro-inflammatory Th1 cells that are involved in the progress of many autoimmune diseases. Interleukin 35 (IL-35) is the newest identified member of the interleukin-12 cytokine family. IL-35 appears to affect the immunological self-tolerance by modulating T cells and immune-regulatory cytokines. Our study aimed at studying the plasma levels of T-cells related cytokines (IL-35, IL-12) and their clinical relevance in patients with persistent and chronic ITP. This study was carried out on 90 subjects divided into two groups the first group consists of 45 patients with chronic and persistent ITP, the second group consists of 45 normal healthy controls. All participants were subjected to careful history taking, thorough clinical examination and appropriate laboratory investigations including CBC and assessment of serum levels of IL-12 and IL-35 using ELISA technique. Our results revealed that as regards to interleukin 12 levels, there was a statistically significant difference between the cases and control groups where the cases levels were significantly higher. As regards to interleukin 35 levels, also there was a statistically significant difference between the two studied groups where the cases levels were significantly higher. This suggests that IL-12 and IL-35 may have a role in the pathogenesis of ITP through induction or promotion of the generation of pro-inflammatory Th1cells in case of IL-12, or through altering the immune self tolerance through regulatory T-cells in case of IL-35

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