Cytokine profile in the patients with combined cardio- and ophtalmopathies
Authors: Fabrikantov O. L. , Shurygin S. N. , Lipatova T. E. , Sudakov O. V. , Potapov V. N. , Chernov A. V. , Shavkuta G. V. , Golikov A. V. , Yakunchenko T. I. , Aksenov V. V. 
Published: February 2024

Combined cardiological and ophthalmological pathology has a high prevalence in older age groups of the population and common pathogenetic mechanisms, among which, of course, is a violation of the cytokine profile. However, the cytokine profile of the blood was practically not analyzed in elderly patients with combined ischemic heart disease with glaucoma. The aim of the study was to study the cytokine profile in patients with combined cardio- and ophthalmopathology. The study was performed at the S.N. Fedorov National Medical Research Center “MNTK Eye Microsurgery”, in two groups: patients with combined coronary heart disease with glaucoma (n = 58 people), and patients with coronary heart disease (n = 49 people), who in both cases have the same age of 60-74 years. The diagnosis of glaucoma was carried out in accordance with the criteria of the “National Glaucoma Guidelines”. Electrocardiographic, echocardiographic, radiographic, and enzyme studies were performed to diagnose coronary heart disease. The determination of cytokines in blood plasma was carried out on the device “Becton Dickinson FACS Canto 2 (USA)” using a special set of CBA (BD Biosciences, USA). Among the patients of the compared groups of the same age, significant differences in most cytokines were revealed, namely, a predominant increase in patients with combined cardio- and ophthalmopathology relative to the group with coronary heart disease. The content of IL-5, IL-12, IFNγ, TNFα in the blood plasma of patients with coronary heart disease combined with glaucoma increased with a significant difference compared to patients with coronary heart disease. However, the highest increase among the cytokines under consideration is characteristic of IL-6 and IL-17, which amounted to 23.8±1.1 pg/mL and 20.2±1.7 pg/mL in patients with combined cardio- and ophthalmopathology versus 6.3±0.3 pg/mL and 7.9±0.5 pg/mL, respectively, in patients with coronary heart disease. At the same time, the level of IL-4 and IL-10 decreased significantly to 2.2±0.2 pg/mL and 6.4±0.4 pg/mL versus 4.8±0.3 pg/mL and 11.9±0.6 pg/mL. The use of logistic regression made it possible to determine the relative risk values of the studied blood cytokines and to develop uncorrected and adjusted models, according to which the closest association with the risk of developing combined coronary heart disease with glaucoma was established for IL-6 and IL-17, with the relative risk values in the uncorrected model of 2.87 and 2.71, respectively (p < 0.001). However, in the adjusted model, the association of IL-6 with combined coronary heart disease with glaucoma increased to 2.92 (CI 2.80-3.27, p = 0.004), and IL-17 decreased to 2.64 (CI 2.51-2.85, p = 0.003). There was also a significant association of IL-4, IL-5, IL-12, IFNγ and TNFα with combined coronary heart disease with glaucoma. The study demonstrated new associations of systemic cytokines with the risk of developing combined coronary heart disease associated with glaucoma.