New Findings on Autoimmune Etiology of Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: Serum IL-17, IL-22 and IL-23 Levels of Patients

Abstract

Background

Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis (IGM) is a benign chronic inflammatory breast disease that mimics breast cancer, and the etiopathogenesis has not yet been fully evaluated. Autoimmunity has received the most focus as a possible etiology. Our aim in this prospective clinical study was to investigate the possible association between the cytokines, interleukin IL-17, IL-22, IL-23 and IGM.

Materials and Methods

The current study was conducted in 26 women with histopathologically diagnosed IGM, and 15 control women of reproductive age having no breast disease history. Blood samples were collected, and serum concentrations of IL-17, IL-22, and IL-23 were determined.

Results

In the analysis of variables, the patients with IGM and the control group had statistically significant differences between serum IL-22 titers (p = 0.0378) and IL-23 titers (p = 0.0469. No statistically significant difference was found between IGM patients and the control group in serum IL-17 titers (p = 0.9724).

Conclusion

The results of the current study, especially pertaining to serum IL-22 and IL-23 levels, support the etiopathogenesis of IGM in favor of the autoinflammatory thesis. Nevertheless, this thesis should be supported by a large case number and prospective clinical studies.

Keywords:

• Interleukin-17
• Interleukin-22
• Interleukin-23
• Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis

This article is referred to by:

Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis: Etiopathogenetic Considerations on a Rare Benign Inflammatory Breast Disease

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Marilyn Carlson for her editorial assistance.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.