Research
Carriers of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) premutation allele present with increased levels of cytokine IL-10
- † Equal contributors
1 Department of Medical Genetics, University of Lausanne, Rue du Bugnon 27, Lausanne, 1005, Switzerland
2 Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge - Batiment Genopode, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
3 Division of Immunology and Allergy, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Rue du Bugnon 46, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland
4 Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Rue du Bugnon 46, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland
5 Service de Génétique Médicale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Avenue Pierre Decker 2, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland
Journal of Neuroinflammation 2012, 9:238 doi:10.1186/1742-2094-9-238
Published: 13 October 2012Abstract
Background
Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is an inherited late-onset neurodegenerative disorder, characterized both by neurological and cognitive deficits. It is caused by the expansion of CGG repeats (55 to 200 repeats) in the noncoding region of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene. Abnormal immunological patterns are often associated with neurodegenerative disorders and implicated in their etiology. We therefore investigated the immune status of FXTAS patients, which had not been assessed prior to this study.
Method
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 15 asymptomatic FMR1 premutation carriers and 20 age-matched controls. Concentrations of three cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10) were measured in PBMC supernatants using ELISA assays.
Results
We found a significant increase in the concentration of the major anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in supernatants of PBMCs derived from premutation carriers, when compared with controls (P = 0.019). This increase correlated significantly with the number of CGG repeats (P = 0.002).
Conclusions
Elevated IL-10 levels were observed in all premutation carriers, before appearance of the classical neurological symptoms; therefore, IL-10 may be one of the early biomarkers of FXTAS.
