Pro- and Anti-inflammatory Cytokines in Steatosis and Steatohepatitis

Background Fatty liver disease is a problem in both bariatric patients and in patients with moderate obesity. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α has been frequently measured in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with or without diabetes, but less is known about interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10. Methods Moderately obese patients ( n = 80) with histologically proven steatosis ( n = 29) and NASH ( n = 51) were recruited. Serum levels of cytokines were documented along with clinical information. The aim was to identify the correlates of such biomolecules in a stable population. Results Diabetes tended to be more associated with NASH (52.5% instead of 41.4%, P = 0.015), with no difference of age, gender, or body mass index regarding steatosis. For the entire population, cytokine changes were not significant, including TNF-α and IL-6. In diabetics only, all markers tended to diminish with NASH, especially IL-10 ( P = 0.000). IL-10 correlated with homeostatic model assessment index ( P = 0.000) and other variables of glucose homeostasis in diabetes, thus representing a major marker of the disease. Conclusions (1) Generally inconsistent changes in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines occurred when NASH was globally compared to steatosis. (2) In contrast, downregulation of IL-6 and IL-10 was perceived in diabetics with NASH. (3) Arterial hypertension did not play a role in these circumstances. (4) IL-10 maintained strong correlations with glucose metabolism indices. (5) TNF-α could not be incriminated for progressive liver damage, as values failed to increase in NASH. (6) Investigations of IL-10 and other counterregulatory cytokines are lacking in this context and deserve further studies.