Relation of interleukin-6, TNF-alpha and interleukin-1alpha with disease activity and severity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients.

Abstract

Serum IL-6 concentrations may serve as a biomarker of disease activity and severity in JIA, providing additional information in certain clinical situations with great discrepancy between clinical assessment and conventional laboratory tests. Upon treatment with Etanercept, although many JIA patients reached remission on medication, they developed increased circulating TNF-alpha levels.