Open Access

ARTICLE

TNF-α, soluble TNF receptor and interleukin-6 plasma levels in the general population

Hubertus Himmerich^1,2, Stephany Fulda¹, Jakob Linseisen^3,4, Henrike Seiler³, Günther Wolfram⁵, Stephanie Himmerich⁶, Kurt Gedrich⁶, Thomas Pollmächer^1,7

1 Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, 80804, Munich, Germany
2 Center of Neurosciences, Klinikum der Philipps-Universität, Klinik für Neurologie, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
3 Human Nutrition and Cancer Prevention, Technical University of Munich, Alte Akademie 16, 85350 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
4 Division of Clinical Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
5 Department of Food and Nutrition, Technical University of Munich, Alte Akademie 16, 85350 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
6 Consumer Economics, Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephaner Steig 17, 85350 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
7 Center of Mental Health, Klinikum Ingolstadt, Krumenauerstrasse 25, 85049 Ingolstadt, Germany
Tel.: (+00 49) 841 880 2200; fax: (+00 49) 841 880 2209

* Corresponding Author: T. Pollmächer, Thomas.Pollmaecher <@klinikum-ingolstadt.de

European Cytokine Network 2006, 17(3), 196-201. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2006.0037

Accepted 07 September 2006;

Abstract

The cytokines tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α), soluble TNF receptors p55 and p75, and interleukin 6 (IL-6) are involved in host defense against several microbiological agents, in the process of inflammation and also in body weight regulation. In the present study, we sought to assess the influence of age, gender, smoking, and body mass index on plasma levels of TNF-α, TNF receptors, and IL-6 in more than 550 adult subjects randomly selected from the Bavarian population. None of the cytokine parameters had a normal distribution and all distributions were significantly skewed. The cytokine plasma levels investigated increased significantly with age, while gender had a relatively weaker influence on the plasma levels. Plasma levels of TNF-α, TNF receptors, and IL-6 correlated significantly with the BMI. The study provides insights into factors influencing the cytokine levels investigated in a randomly chosen study sample.

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