Wang H et al. – This data suggest that the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-8 are involved in fibromyalgia (FM), but they do not apparently provoke the pain of FM directly. Multidisciplinary pain therapy modified the cytokine profile in patients with FM during the observation period. Methods
Study to examine the circulating cytokines in FM pts over a period of 6 mos and to find the correlations between serum cytokine concs and pain intensity in pts receiving multidisciplinary pain therapy
Serum concs of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and IL-4 and IL-10 were measured in 20 FM pts and 80 healthy subjects on admission and 10, 21, and 180 days after initiation of treatment
Results
On admission, serum levels of IL-8 and TNF-α but not IL-6, were elevated in FM pts
No difference in IL-4 and IL-10 was found between FM pts and controls
High IL-8 levels remained consistent during the f/u, but TNF-&apha; was already reduced after 10 days and until 6 mos after therapy
After 6 mos' treatment with multidisciplinary pain therapy, IL-8 and TNF-α levels were lower than at the beginning
IL-8 but not TNF-α serum levels were correlated with pain intensity in FM pts after 6 mos' multidisciplinary pain therapy
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