Determination of serum levels of interleukin (IL)-24, interferon (IFN)-γ and IL-4 in patients with condyloma acuminatum before and after treatment

Objective To investigate the changes of serum levels of IL-24, IFN-γand IL-4 in patients with condyloma acuminatum (CA) after treatment. Methods Forty-two patients with CA who experienced no recurrence within 3 months after successful treatment were enrolled in this study. Double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (DAS ELISA) was performed to determine the serum levels of IL-24,IFN-γand IL-4 in these patients before and 3 months after successful treatment as well as in 35 normal human controls. Results The untreated patients showed a lower level of serum IFN-γ (9.65 ± 3.70 vs. 15.49 ± 3.85ng/L, P ＜ 0.01) and a higher level of serum IL-4 and IL-24 (15.91 ± 6.14 vs. 10.48 ± 5.08 ng/L, 141.84 ±44.01 vs. 103.20 ± 41.37 ng/L, both P ＜ 0.01 ) compared with the controls. No significant difference was observed for the above parameters between the serum samples from the controls and patients 3 months after successful treatment. Conclusions Cellular immunity is impaired in patients with CA, which may be involved in the immunopathogenesis of CA.