In patients with TMJ disorders, MRI grades are strongly correlated with NRS scores and levels of cytokines (IL-8, sIL-6R, and sTNF-RI/II) in the synovial fluid.
TMD-WPT cases had elevated protein levels of proinflammatory cytokine monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP-1) and antiinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1ra, whereas TMD+WPT cases had elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokine IL-8.
In addition, we found that IL-1beta stimulated IL-8 production through an increase in IL-8 gene expression in HTS cells, which may be associated with the increase of infiltrating inflammatory cells seen in the synovial membrane of TMJ disorders.