Inflammation in Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament of the Cervical Spine: Monocytes and Proinflammatory Cytokines Increased Significantly.

Abstract

A retrospective cohort study. The study aimed to explore the expression difference of inflammatory cells in patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) of the cervical spine and investigate the expression level of IL-6, IL-1β, MCP-1, TNF-α, RANTES, and IL-10 in patients with OPLL. Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is a disease that can seriously affect spinal cord and nerve function. Inflammation is thought to be an important source of the pathogenesis of ligament ossification. A retrospective study was performed on 215 patients with OPLL and 184 patients without OPLL who were hospitalized in the Spine Surgery Department of Shanghai Changzheng Hospital. A case-control analysis of 147 OPLL patients and 147 demographically matched non-OPLL controls was performed by propensity score matching (PSM) to assess inflammatory cells in peripheral blood. The expression levels of IL-6, IL-1β, MCP-1, TNF-α, RANTES, and IL-10 in the peripheral blood of 53 patients with OPLL and 27 patients without OPLL were determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The differences between groups were analyzed, and a P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The peripheral blood monocytes in the OPLL group were significantly higher than those in the control group. The hs-CRP in the mixed type of COPLL group was significantly higher than that of the localized type of OPLL. ELISA showed that the expression levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and MCP-1 in the peripheral blood of the OPLL group were significantly higher than those of the control group. The expression level of IL-10 in the peripheral blood of the OPLL group was significantly lower than that of the control group. The expression of monocytes and proinflammatory cytokines in the peripheral blood of OPLL patients was significantly increased, suggesting the existence of inflammation in these patients.