Expression And Clinical Significance Of TNF And Its Receptors In Degenerative Intervertebral Disc Tissue

Objective To study the role of TNF ,TNFR and STNFs in the degenerative intervertebral disc tissue, the correlation between TNF and its receptors and the clinical pains, and the relationship between TNF TNFR STNFs and the degeneration. Methods Herniated lumbar disc tissues were obtained from 30 patients undergoing surgery for persistent radiculopathy. The average age was 41.9 years(range,20-55years). As a control group 8 lumbar disc specimens were harvested from patients who were operated with no lumbar disc herniation and discogenic low back pain. The average age was 35.2 years(range, 19-40years).The specimens consist of different proportional --- and---, some cases contain of --. The concentrations of TNF-α/βand sTNFR1/R2 were measured by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA).Expression of TNFR1/R2mRNAs on the membrane of target cells was analysed by Reverse Transcription- Polymerase Chain Reaction(RT-PCR).Finally,all the data obtained in the present study were analyzed statistically by SPSS 10.0 computer program. Results: There were marked difference in TNF-α/βand sTNFR1/R2 between the diseased group and the control group; The results indicated that contents of TNF-α/βand sTNFR1/R2 in the herniated disc tissues was positively correlated with symptom scores; The expression of TNFR1/R2mRNA in diseased group was far more upregulation than the control group; There were correlations among TNF-α/β, sTNFR1/R2 and TNFR1/R2mRNA. Conclusion: 1.The study established standard curves in order to examine the levels of TNF-α/βand sTNFR1/R2 2. The study demonstrated that expression of TNFR1/R2mRNAs on intervertebral disc cells by RT-PCR. 3. The result from the Student's test, which contents of TNF,TNFR and STNFRs in lumbar discs of the experiment were by far more than those of control group,suggested that TNF,TNFR and STNFRs involved in degeneration and herniation of lumbar discs.4.There were correlations among contents of TNF,TNFR,STNFs in herniated lumbar discs(p < 0. 05),which suggested the synergism of the three factors and further reflected the dependent and net-like regulation among them.5.The results from the linear correlation showed as follows:contents of TNF-αin herniated lumbar discs significantly correlated with symptom scores(p< 0.01);The contents of TNF-αdetermined the degrees of pain. The above results also showed that the size of hernia was not regarded as essential basis to evaluate the condition of the patients with lumbar disc herniation. They can also explain the patients with giant herniated discs may not have the symptom of pain, the patients with serious pain may not have the remarkable radiological evidence of the compression of nerve root, most patients with lumbar disc herniation can be measured by conservative treatment. But clinical synmptoms and signs remarkably correlated with the functions of cytokins and inflammatory mediators in degeneration and herniation of lumbar disc.