The comparison of IL-17 levels in patients with unstable angina before and after medical treatment.

BACKGROUND: Interleukin (IL)-17 plays a central role in orchestrating the cytokine cascade and accelerates atherosclerosis and plaque vulnerability in animal models. However, epidemiological data evaluating the role of IL-17 levels in unstable angina are lacking. The aim of our study is to evaluate and compare the IL-17 levels in unstable angina (UA) cases before and after treatment.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed from July to October 2018 in Ali Iben-abitaleb heart center, Zahedan, Iran. 48 patients with UA in the age range of below 50 years entered the study. All demographic, past medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG), and transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) data were collected. Serum level of IL-17 was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. In all the tests, P< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. All data analyses were performed using the SPSS 13.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).

RESULTS: In this study, 48 UA patients, including 34 women and 16 men with a mean age of 56.60 years were included in the study. The mean serum level of interleukin 17 after treatment (65.13 ± 53.29 pg/dl) was significantly lower than Its level before treatment (94.89 ± 51.25 pg/dL) (P< 0/05).

CONCLUSION: Our findings point towards a role of inflammation in the form of increased activity of IL-17 in UA patients and thus suggest that IL-17-driven inflammation may play a role in the promotion of clinical instability in patients with coronary artery disease.