Objective: Previous studies of AN showed low-grade inflammation. Are low-grade inflammation and circulating lymphocytes associated with chronic conditions?
Method: Peripheric blood cytokines were measured using Luminex™ technology in a chronic AN cohort (mean = 67.42 months), compared to Constitutional Thinness (CT), Constitutional Obesity (CO), and Healthy Controls (HC). Secondarily a prospective cohort of chronic AN (mean = 54.11 months) was recruited to compare the functional lymphocyte profile in blood by flow cytometry to CT and HC.
Results: In the AN group, most cytokine concentrations were lower than in CT and HC groups. The IL-23 (98.02 pg/ml) was elevated related to HC and CO, and the IL-10 (4.178 pg/ml) was elevated versus CO. In the CT group, IL-9 (0.06216 pg/ml) was elevated compared to AN. The AN group had high Treg (9.259% of CD4+ ) and CD8+ Integrinβ7+ (9.552% of CD3+ ) versus HC for lymphocyte populations. In CT group, elevated Treg (9.7% of CD4+ ) elevated percentage of CD4+ CCR9+ (5.867% of CD3+ ) and CD8+ Integrinβ7+ (10.21% of CD3+ ) were found versus HC.
Conclusions: The chronic state of AN and CT is surprisingly non-inflammatory with elevated Treg cells. These results suggest that maintaining a dysregulated response to intestinal antigens may contribute to maintaining AN.
Keywords: T lymphocytes; anorexia nervosa; cytokines; flow cytometry; inflammation.
© 2022 Eating Disorders Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.