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Use & Interpretation of Laboratory Tests Books
Use & Interpretation of Laboratory Tests Books

Interleukin 2 Receptor
 Vellalore N. Kakkanaiah, Ph.D. & Stacey B. Weston, Ph.D.

Interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R) consists of at least three distinct subunits, the a chain (IL-2Ra), the b chain (IL-2Rb) and the g chain (IL-2Rb).1 Soluble IL-2R (sIL-2R; previously known as Tac) is the released extracellular domain of the IL-2Ra (low affinity, p55) by activated cells (probably including T cells, B cells and macrophages) during a variety of immune responses2 including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, myositis, host-versus-graft reaction, lymphoreticular malignancies, systemic parasitic diseases, AIDS, Graves disease, inflammatory bowel disease, myasthenia gravis, chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and asthma.3-16 In RA, sIL2R concentrations do not correlate with short-term clinical measures of disease activity after various treatments.17-18 In other diseases (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma19 and Guillain-Barré syndrome20), higher sIL-2R concentrations correlate with the disease activity; whereas, no correlation is seen in epithelial ovarian cancer patients.21 Elevated sIL-2R concentrations are found in bile and in lower concentrations in serum of liver transplant patients before and during acute rejection episodes.22 Serum sIL-2R concentrations increase progressively from stages I and II to stages III and IV of IgA nephropathy,23 but the significance of this is uncertain because serum sIL-2R increases in patients with chronic renal failure.24 Although of pathogenetic interest, none of these increases are shown to be incontrovertibly useful for evaluation of disease activity or therapeutic monitoring.25 sIL-2R has been identified as a significant independent prognostic factor in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, with poorer prognosis at levels 2000 U/L or greater.26
REFERENCES

  1. Minami Y, Kono T, Miyazaki T, Taniguchi T. The IL-2 receptor complex: its structure, function, and target genes. Annu Rev Immunol 1993;11:245-67.
  2. Obara T, Vodian MA, Kung PC. Clinical significance of soluble interleukin-2 receptor for monitoring the diseases associated with activated lymphocytes and viral infections. J Clin Lab Anal 1992;6:423-36.
  3. Wolf RE, Brelsford WG, Hall VC, Adams SB. Cytokines and soluble interleukin-2 receptors in rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol 1992;19:524-8.
  4. Wendling D, Racadot E, Viel JF. Soluble interleukin-2 receptor in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Arthritis Rheum 1991;34:1622-3.
  5. Sawada S, Hashimoto H, Iijma S, et al. Increased soluble IL-2 receptor in serum of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Rheumatol 1993;12:204-9.
  6. Peter JB, Agopian MS, Clements PJ, Telian NS, Furst DE. Elevated serum levels of interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) and IL-2 in diffuse (DS) and limited scleroderma (LS) [Abstract]. J Rheumatol 1990;17:908-10.
  7. Tokano Y, Kanai Y, Hashimoto H, Okumura K, Hirose S. Soluble interleukin-2 receptors in patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis. Ann Rheum Dis 1992;51:781-2.
  8. Carlson IH. New markers in serum for lymphocyte activation for predicting allograft rejection. Neopterin and soluble interleukin-2 receptors. Clin Lab Med 1992;12:99-111.
  9. Pavlidis NA, Manoussakis MN, Germanidis GS, Moutsopoulos HM. Serum-soluble interleukin-2 receptors in B-cell lymphoproliferative malignancies. Med Pediatr Oncol 1992;20:26-31.
  10. Josimovic-Alasevic O, Feldmeier H, Zwingenberger K, et al. Interleukin-2 receptor in patients with localized and systemic parasitic diseases. Clin Exp Immunol 1988;72:249-54.
  11. Noronha IL, Daniel V, Schimpf K, Opelz G. Soluble IL-2 receptor and tumour necrosis factor-alpha in plasma of haemophilia patients infected with HIV. Clin Exp Immunol 1992;87:287-92.
  12. Prummel MF, Wiersinga WM, Van der Gaag R, Mourtis MP, Koornneef L. Soluble IL-2 receptor levels in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. Clin Exp Immunol 1992;88:405-9.
  13. Matsuura T, West GA, Klein JS, Ferraris L, Fiocchi C. Soluble interleukin-2 and CD8 and CD4 receptors in inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology 1992;102:2006-14.
  14. Cohen-Kaminsky S, Jacques Y, Aime C, Safar D, Morel E, Berrih-Aknin S. Follow-up of soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels after thymectomy in patients with myasthenia gravis. Clin Immunol Immunopathol 1992;62:190-8.
  15. Peter JB, Boctor FN, Tourtellotte WW. Serum and CSF levels of IL-2, sIL-2R, TNF-a, and IL-1ß in chronic progressive multiple sclerosis: expected lack of clinical utility. Neurology 1991;41:121-3.
  16. Motojima S, Hirata A, Kishima A, et al. Serum levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor in asthma patients. J Asthma 1995;32:151-8.
  17. Portioli I. Serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels in rheumatoid arthritis: correlation with clinical and immunological parameters and with the response to auranofin treatment. Clin Exp Rheumatol 1994;12:357-62.
  18. Pollison RP, Dooley MA, Dawson DV, Pisetsky DS. Interleukin-2 receptor levels in the sera of rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with methotrexate. Arthritis Rheum 1994;37:50-6.
  19. Wasik MA, Vonderheid EC, Bigler RD, et al. Increased serum concentrations of the soluble interleukin-2 receptor in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Arch Dermatol 1996;132:42-7.
  20. Bansil S, Mithen FA, Cook SD, Sheffet A, Rohowsky-Kochan C. Clinical correlation with serum-soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels in Guillain-Barré syndrome. Neurology 1991;41:1302-5.
  21. Pavlidis NA, Bairaktari E, Kalef-Ezra J, Nicolaides C, Seferiadis C, Fountzilas G. Serum soluble interleukin-2 receptors in epithelial ovarian cancer patients. Int J Biol Markers 1995;10:75-80.
  22. Adams DH, Wang L, Hubscher SG, Elias E, Neuberger JM. Soluble interleukin-2 receptors in serum and bile of liver transplant recipients. Lancet 1989;1:469-71.
  23. Tomino Y, Ozaki T, Koide H, Takahashi M, Ito K. Serum levels of interleukin-2 receptor and disease activity in patients with IgA nephropathy. J Clin Lab Analysis 1989;3:355-9.
  24. Takamatsu T, Yasuda N, Ohno T, et al. Soluble interleukin-2 receptors in the serum of patients with chronic renal failure. Tohoku J Exp Med 1988;155:343-7.
  25. Schroeder TJ, Helling T, McKenna RM, et al. A multicenter study to evaluate a novel assay for quantitation of soluble interleukin-2 receptor in renal transplant recipients. Transplantation 1992;53:34-40.
  26. Niitsu N, Iijima K, Chizuka A. A high serum-soluble interleukins-2 receptor level is associated with a poor outcome of aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Eur J Haematol 2001;66(1):24-30.





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