Chemokine (CXC motif) ligand 9 serum levels in mixed cryoglobulinaemia are associated with circulating levels of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha

No study evaluated circulating chemokine (CXC motif) ligand (CXCL)9 in 'patients with mixed cryoglobulinaemia and hepatitis C virus chronic infection' (MC+HCV). We aimed to measure CXCL9, IFN-γ and TNF-α in a series of MC+HCV to correlate these parameters to different clinical phenotypes. Serum CXCL9, IFN-γ and TNF-α were assayed in 54 MC+HCV, in 54 patients with HCV chronic infection (HCV+) and in 54 sex- and age-matched controls. MC+HCV showed significantly higher mean CXCL9 than HCV+ patients (p=0.01; ANOVA) or controls (p=0.0001; ANOVA), in particular in 21 cryoglobulinaemic patients with active vasculitis compared to those without (p