Abstract:

Objective: Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the axial skeleton, affecting mainly the sacroiliac joints and the lumbar spine. Cytokines are believed to be responsible for the pathogenesis of the disease. The aims of this study were to determine serum interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels inAS patients and also to determine the relationship between these levels and disease activity. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight patients with a diagnosis of AS according to the modified New York criteria were included in this study. BASDAI, BASFI, BASMI and Maastricht Ankylosing Spondylitis Enthesis Score (MASES) indexes were used for clinical evaluation of the patients. Serum IL-8 levels were measured by ELISA. Results: The mean age and disease duration of the patients were 35.4(10.8) years and 75(97.1) months respectively. The mean serum IL-8 level was 67.3(22.9) pg/mL. Among the evaluated clinical and laboratuary parameters a significant correlation was observed only between serum IL-8 levels and CRP (p=0,048) and also BASDAI(P=0,005). Conclusion: BASDAI and CRPare two important clinical parameters which are used in the evaluation of disease activity inAS patients. Finding a significant relationship between serum IL-8 level and these two parameters may indicate that serum IL-8 level could be used as an objective marker to monitor the disease activity inASpatients.

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