@Article{ecn.2006.0037,
AUTHOR = {Hubertus Himmerich, Stephany Fulda, Jakob Linseisen, Henrike Seiler, Günther Wolfram, Stephanie Himmerich, Kurt Gedrich, Thomas Pollmächer},
TITLE = {TNF-α, soluble TNF receptor and interleukin-6 plasma levels in the general population},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {17},
YEAR = {2006},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {196--201},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v17n3/66150},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
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.},
DOI = {10.1684/ecn.2006.0037}
}