The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of interleukin (IL)-6 with coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke events and to examine whether IL-6 plays a role in mediating the associations of several downstream inflammatory markers with CHD and ischemic stroke. The study cohort was derived from the prospective Caerphilly Study and included 2,208 men aged 45-64 years with a median follow-up of 13.4 years from which 486 men experienced a cardiovascular event. Results showed that circulating levels of the proinflammatory cytokine, IL-6, were significantly associated with risk of CHD. The study confirmed that plasma IL-6 levels were significantly associated with circulating levels of several downstream inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, plasma viscosity and total and neutrophil leucocyte counts. In multivariate a analysis, the association between IL-6 and CHD and total cardiovascular disease was maintained, while the associations between downstream inflammatory markers and cardiovascular disease were attenuated to non-significance after adjustment for IL-6. These results suggest that IL-6 could be a mediator of the associations observed between several downstream inflammatory markers and CHD risk.
Documentation centre