Case Report

Aseptic meningitis in mixed connective tissue disease: cytokine and anti-U1RNP antibodies in cerebrospinal fluids from two different cases

Authors

Yoshimasa Fujita¹, Takao Fujii², Ran Nakashima², Masao Tanaka³ and Tsuneyo Mimori²

1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, Akdeniz University, 07058 Antalya, Turkey
2. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

Received:

26 June 2007

Accepted:

15 October 2007

Published online:

19 February 2008

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Abstract

In this paper, we report two patients with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) who developed aseptic meningitis. In both cases, the concentrations of IFN-γ and IL-6 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were increased. In the first case, with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)-induced meningitis, where anti-U1RNP antibodies (Abs) were not detected in CSF, NSAIDs induced both IFN-γ and IL-6 secretion from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro. In the second case, with disease-associated meningitis, anti-U1RNP Abs were detected also in CSF. Of note, anti-U1RNP Abs appeared to be more concentrated in CSF than in serum and CSF-anti-U1RNP Ab titer was correlated with disease activity. We suggest that IFN-γ and IL-6 may be involved in both disease-associated and drug-induced aseptic meningitis, whereas CSF-anti-U1RNP Abs is detected only in a patient with MCTD-associated aseptic meningitis.

Keywords

Anti-U1RNP antibodies - Aseptic meningitis - IFN-γ - IL-6 - Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD)