Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P05231 (interleukin-6)
 23,907 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Normal pregnancy is associated with changes in the immune system. We studied whether asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA) is associated with this immune system change by assaying high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). The cytokine and dimethylarginine serum concentrations were determined from women with normal pregnancy (n=77) and healthy non-pregnant controls (n=61) matched for age and smoking status as a part of a large population-based, prospective cohort study conducted in Finland. The hsCRP levels were significantly elevated in the second (P=0.016) and third trimesters (P=0.001) of pregnancy compared to the levels of non-pregnant women. IL-6 levels were significantly higher in the third trimester (P=0.029) of pregnancy than in non-pregnant state. TNF-alpha concentrations did not change significantly during pregnancy. ADMA and SDMA concentrations were significantly lower during pregnancy compared to the levels of non-pregnant women (P<0.001). There was no significant association between ADMA and inflammation markers regardless of the elevated serum concentrations of hsCRP and IL-6 in the third trimester of normal pregnancy. These results suggest that maternal systemic ADMA and SDMA concentrations are more likely to become decreased due to the hemodilution and increased renal clearance than being directly influenced by the change of cytokines during pregnancy.
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PMID:Maternal serum ADMA is not associated with proinflammatory cytokines or C-reactive protein during normal pregnancy. 1926 5

In the last decade, uremic toxicity as a potential cause for the excess of cardiovascular disease and mortality observed in chronic kidney disease gained more and more interest. This review focuses on uremic toxins with known cardiovascular effects and their removal. For protein-bound solutes, for example, indoxylsulfate and the conjugates of p-cresol, and for small water-soluble solutes, for example, guanidines, such as ADMA and SDMA, there is a growing evidence for a role in cardiovascular toxicity in vitro (e.g., affecting leukocyte, endothelial, vascular smooth muscle cell function) and/or in vivo. Several middle molecules (e.g., beta-2-microglobulin, interleukin-6, TNF-alpha and FGF-23) were shown to be predictors for cardiovascular disease and/or mortality. Most of these solutes, however, are difficult to remove during dialysis, which is traditionally assessed by studying the removal of urea, which can be considered as a relatively inert uremic retention solute. However, even the effective removal of other small water-soluble toxins than urea can be hampered by their larger distribution volumes. Middle molecules (beta-2-microglobulin as prototype, but not necessarily representative for others) are cleared more efficiently when the pore size of the dialyzer membrane increases, convection is applied and dialysis time is prolonged. Only adding convection to diffusion improves the removal of protein-bound toxins. Therefore, alternative removal strategies, such as intestinal adsorption, drugs interfering with toxic biochemical pathways or decreasing toxin concentration, and extracorporeal plasma adsorption, as well as kinetic behavior during dialysis need further investigation. Even more importantly, randomized clinical studies are required to demonstrate a survival advantage through these strategies.
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PMID:An update on uremic toxins. 2289 94