Pro-inflammatory cytokines and the pathogenesis of Gaucher's disease: increased release of interleukin-6 and interleukin-10

Gaucher's disease is characterized by hepatosplenomegaly, bone-marrow infiltration, osteonecrosis and bone thinning, associated with the presence of pathological macrophages that contain undegraded glycosphingolipids. To investigate the possible role of cytokines in the systemic and local manifestations of established Gaucher's disease, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were measured in freshly-separated serum. Samples from eight male and 14 female patients with type 1 Gaucher's disease were compared with sera from 22 healthy age- and sex-matched controls. Concentrations of IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly elevated in sera from patients with Gaucher's disease (11.9 ± 1.8 (SEM) pg/ml and 5.4 ± 0.5 (SEM) pg/ml, respectively) compared with those of controls (4.1 ± 0.9 (SEM) and 0.8 ± 0.3 (SEM) pg/ml, p