Background: Cytokines are mediators of disease. Expression levels in the blood could be of clinical relevance. Objective: Aim of this study was to show if serum levels of IL-1β could be of any clinical relevance concerning dogs. IL-1β was measured in serum samples of healthy dogs to find a reference range for healthy individuals. Measurements of IL-1β should show if this substance was a possible marker for early stages of inflammation. Therefore, a possible relation between serum levels and grades of leukocytosis was analyzed. Methods: IL-1β concentrations in the blood were assessed by the use of a human enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). 39 dogs with different inflammatory diseases were analyzed to figure out if there was a correlation between IL-1β serum levels and the number of leukocytes in peripheral blood. The control group consisted of 16 healthy dogs. Results: about half of the samples IL-1β were detected. Most of the patients showed no detectable amounts of IL-1β. The IL-1β levels measured in the serum were stable for at least nine weeks when stored at ?20?C. The patients tested positively on IL-1β had mostly lower-grade leukocytosis compared to those who had no IL-1β in serum. All the dogs which were suffering from disease but still had no traceable IL-1β, showed a leukocytosis as a common symptom. Conclusion: This study showed that IL-1β could become an interesting marker for the detection of early stages of inflammation when leukocytosis does not yet appear in peripheral blood. Nonetheless, the possible use in diagnosis is restricted. This is due to the fact that there are only low amounts of IL-1β to be detected in the serum, even concerning patients are suffering from disease.
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