The Concentrations And Clinical Significance Of Interleukin-33/sST2 In Malignant And Tuberculous Pleural Effusion

Objective: To investigate the expression levels of interleukin-33 and soluble ST2(sST2)in the pleural effusion of the patients with malignant pleural effusion(MPE)and tuberculous pleural effusion(TPE)and the corresponding peripheral blood,and to clarify their significances.Methods: A total of 72 patients with pleural effusion were selected(42 cases of MPE,30 cases of TPE).The expression levels of IL-33 and sST2 in the pleural effusion and peripheral blood were measured by ELISA.38 healthy controls were selected as healthy control group.The expression levels of IL-33 and sST2 in the pleural effusion and peripheral blood were compared between MPE,TPE patients and healthy peoples.The correlation between the expression levels of IL-33 and sST2 in the pleural effusion and serum of the patients in two groups were analyzed.The cut-off value of pleural and serum IL-33 and sST2 expression levels for diagnosis of MPE and TPE,and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were obtained through the Receiver operating characteristic curve.Results: 1.There was no statistical significance in the expression levels of serum IL-33 and sST2 between MPE and TPE(p>0.05),but they were higher than those in healthy control group(p<0.01).The expression level of IL-33 in tuberculous pleural effusion of TPE patients was higher than that in the corresponding serum(p<0.01),but,the expression level of IL-33 in malignant pleural effusion was significantly lower than that in corresponding serum(p<0.05).The expression level of IL-33 in tuberculous pleural effusion of the TPE patients was significantly higher than those of the MPE patients(p<0.05).The expression level of sST2 in pleural effusion of the MPE patients was higher than that of the TPE patients(p<0.01).2.Between the pleural effusion and corresponding serum,the concentrations of IL-33 were positively correlated with those in corresponding serum levels both in MPE(r=0.9304)and TPE(r=0.9907),however the similar correlation of sST2 was found in MPE(r=0.9345),not in TPE.The cut-off value of IL-33 expression level in pleural effusion for the differential diagnosis of TPE and MPE was 17.08 ng·L-1,with the corresponding sensitivity of 96.7%and specificity of 92.9%,respectively.3.The cut-off value of sST2/IL-33 ratio in pleural effusion for the differential diagnosis of TPE and MPE was 15.06,with the corresponding sensitivity of 96.8% and specificity of95.5%,respectively.Conclusion:IL-33 and sST2 are likely to participate in the inflammatory response of pleurisy of malignant and tuberculous pleural effusion in different degrees.The different expression levels of pleural IL-33/sST2 may be a new method for the differential diagnosis of MPE and non-MPE,and have a good clinical significance.