IL-17A and IL-23 cytokines and their relation with estrogen in post menopausal osteoporosis

Abstract

Introduction: Estrogen deficiency is now considered as post inflammatory state as it has been associated with elevation of various cytokines like IL-1 IL-6 and TNF-α, responsible for osteoclastogenesis. Role of IL-17 has been established in various inflammatory and auto-immune disorders associated with bone loss, we evaluated the levels of IL-17 with respect to estrogen in post menopausal women with and without osteoporosis. Material & Methods: Total 75 post menopausal females with mean age (58.17±5.94), between age group 45-75years were recruited. Females with history of natural menopause at least one year after the onset of menopause were enrolled. All patients underwent BMD measurement through Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan and divided into two groups, Group A patients with osteoporosis and Group B without osteoporosis. Serum level of IL-17, IL-23 levels and Estrogen level were measured by standard quantitative sandwich ELISA kits. Results: Group A patients level of IL-17(48.49±8.34 pg/ml) and IL-23(91.28±9.89 pg/ml) was significantly higher than in group B patients with level of IL-17(19.55±7.11 pg/ml), IL-23 (44.56±11.36 pg/ml) while that of estrogen was significantly low in group A (31.80±12.57 pg/ml) in comparison to group B (40.39±20.88 pg/ml). Conclusion: We observed lower level of estrogen is associated with higher level of inflammatory cytokines IL-17 and IL-23, thus further strengthening the concept that post menopausal osteoporosis is inflammatory disorder as estrogen deficiency results in elevation of inflammatory cytokines.