Urinary chemokines/cytokines are elevated in patients with urolithiasis

The prevalence of urolithiasis in the general population has been increasing recently. The inflammatory responses may play an important role in the development of urolithiasis. We aimed to investigate whether the urine inflammatory cytokine and chemokine profiles from patients with urolithiasis can be used as prognostic markers for urolithiasis. Multiplex immunoassays were used to simultaneously detect five inflammatory cytokines and five inflammatory chemokines in urine collected from 29 patients and 38 sex and age-matched healthy volunteers. After adjusting for urinary creatinine, urinary levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)-inducible 10-kDa protein, monokine induced by IFN-γ and IL-6 were significantly increased in patients compared with healthy controls. However, concentrations of urinary IL-1β, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were not significantly different between those of patients and healthy controls. Using receiver operating characteristics curve analysis, we found that the adjusted IL-8 level of 6.2 pg/mg creatinine can reach a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 68% to detect urolithiasis. Our data showed that urinary stones are associated with a cascade of inflammatory responses, including chemokine secretion, and urinary IL-8 levels. In addition, the elevation of urinary IL-8 could be a useful biomarker in healthy screening and clinical follow-up of urolithiasis.