High serum interleukin-2 levels are associated with pruritus in chronic kidney disease undergoing regular hemodialysis

Abstract

Background: Uremic pruritus or more accurately termed ‘chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus’ (CKD-aP) is chronic itch in patients with advanced or end-stage renal disease without evidence of any other active disease that could explain the pruritus. The pathogenesis of CKD-aP is complex and not fully clarified. Some preliminary studies indicate that CKD-aP is a systemic inflammatory disease with a deranged balance of T helper (TH) cell differentiation toward TH1 predominance especially IL-2. This study aimed to elucidate further the association of interleukin-2 serum levels with CKD-aP in patients undergoing regular hemodialysis (HD). Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study. Sampling was taken with consecutive sampling technique. This study was carried out on 72 patients on regular HD consist of 36 patients with CKD-aP and 36 patients without CKD-aP after meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Blood samples were obtained at Hemodialysis Unit Sanglah General Hospital and IL-2 serum levels were measured at Clinical Pathology Laboratory Sanglah General Hospital Denpasar between July 2019 and August 2019. Mann-Whitney U Test was used to compare IL-2 serum between CKD-aP and non-CKD-aP group. Results: Results in this study we found higher median IL-2 level (17.1 ng/l) on pruritus group versus those without pruritus (13 ng/ mL) (p<0.05). Conclusion: IL-2 serum levels on CKD-aP patients are higher than those without CKD-aP in patients who undergo regular hemodialysis.