TNF and IL-6 levels in narcoleptic patients

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the presence of HLA-DQB1*0602 allele, tumornecrosis factor and interleukin-6 in patients with cataplexy andcontrols. Methods: A prospective controlled study with 22 patientsdiagnosed as narcoleptic according to DSM4 criteria and 17 healthycontrol subjects with no sleep disorders. All patients underwent anight-polysomnographic recording and HLA-DQB1*0602 study. Tumornecrosis factor and interleukin-6 levels of controls and patients werequantified. Results: The presence of HLA DQB1*0602 allele was foundin 10 patients with cataplexy and in 2 patients with no cataplexy (p =0.24). A significant increase in tumor necrosis factor in patients withrare cataplexy was observed when compared with controls (p =0.009), as well as a significant decrease in patients with rare cataplexyversus patients with frequent cataplexy (p < 0.0001). There were nodifferences in interleukin-6 levels between the groups. Conclusion:Discrepancies in clinical picture of narcoleptic patients may beassociated with subtle changes in the pathophysiological mechanismof the disease. The present study findings reinforce the hypothesis ofa probable immunological etiology for narcolepsy.

Keywords

• Narcolepsy
• Cataplexy
• Tumor necrosis factor
• Interleukin-6
• HLA-DQ antigens