Background. The most frequent cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves’ disease (GD). Orbitopathy is the most prevalent and recognizable extrathyroidal manifestation of Graves’ disease with unrevealed pathogenesis. Interleukin 29 (IL-29) is a relatively newly discovered inflammatory cytokine. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between IL-29 and Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) in euthyroid patients. Methods. Thirty-one euthyroid patients with Graves’ disease and with active GO [], seventeen euthyroid patients with GD but without GO, and seventy-two healthy control subjects (CS) matched for age and gender were enrolled in the study. The following parameters were evaluated in every participant: thyroid-related hormones and autoantibodies and inflammatory markers (white blood cells, hsCRP). ELISA assay was applied to measure the concentration of IL-29. Results. We found higher level of IL-29 in GO group in comparison with CS [165 (133-747) vs. 62 (62-217) pg/mL, ]. Furthermore, participants in the subgroup with GD with GO as compared with GD without GO had higher concentration of IL-29 [165 (133-747) vs. 62 (62-558) pg/mL, ]. The ROC analysis for IL-29 revealed IL-29 cut-off of 105 pg/mL (sensitivity 1.000 and specificity 0.597) as the best value significantly indicating the presence of GO in GD [area under the ROC curve (AUC): 0.739, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.646-0.833, ]. Conclusions. The present study revealed for the first time an elevated level of IL-29 in the serum of patients with GD and GO that might suggest its involvement in the pathogenesis of GD ocular complications.

中文翻译：

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甲状腺功能正常的 Graves 眼眶病患者 IL-29 的评估：初步研究。

背景。甲状腺功能亢进最常见的原因是格雷夫斯病 (GD)。眼眶病是 Graves 病最普遍和可识别的甲状腺外表现，发病机制尚未揭示。白细胞介素 29 (IL-29) 是一种相对较新发现的炎性细胞因子。因此，本研究的目的是评估甲状腺功能正常患者的 IL-29 与 Graves 眼眶病 (GO) 之间的关系。方法。31 名甲状腺功能正常的 Graves 病和活动性 GO 患者 []，17 名甲状腺功能正常但没有 GO 的 GD 患者和 72 名年龄和性别相匹配的健康对照受试者 (CS) 被纳入研究。对每位参与者的以下参数进行了评估：甲状腺相关激素和自身抗体以及炎症标志物（白细胞、hsCRP）。应用ELISA测定来测量IL-29的浓度。结果。我们发现 GO 组的 IL-29 水平高于 CS [165 (133-747) vs. 62 (62-217) pg/mL,]。此外，与没有 GO 的 GD 相比，患有 GO 的 GD 亚组的参与者具有更高的 IL-29 浓度 [165 (133-747) vs. 62 (62-558) pg/mL，]。IL-29 的 ROC 分析显示 IL-29 截止值为 105 pg/mL（灵敏度 1.000 和特异性 0.597）作为最佳值，显着表明 GD 中存在 GO [ROC 曲线下面积（AUC）：0.739， 95% 置信区间 (CI)：0.646-0.833，]。结论。本研究首次揭示了 GD 和 GO 患者血清中 IL-29 水平升高，这可能表明其参与了 GD 眼部并发症的发病机制。