Clinical Utility of Serum Interleukin-8 and Interferon-Alpha in Thyroid Diseases

Abstract EN

Serum interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interferon-alpha (IFN-α) levels have been estimated from a total of 88 individuals of which 19 were disease-free healthy individuals, and 69 were patients with thyroid diseases: goitre (N=21), autoimmune diseases (N=16), and carcinomas (N=32).

Both IL-8 and IFN-α were significantly higher in all the patients as compared to healthy individuals.

Serum IL-8 levels showed significant positive correlation with disease stage in thyroid cancer patients.

Higher serum IL-8 levels were associated with advanced disease stage while no significant correlation was observed between serum IFN-α levels and any of the clinicopathological parameters.

IL-8 and IFN-α significantly correlated with each other in anaplastic carcinoma patients.

Finally concluding, monitoring the serum IL-8 and IFN-α levels can help differentiate patients with thyroid diseases from healthy individuals, and IL-8 seems to have a role in the pathogenesis of thyroid diseases and may represent a target for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.