Objective. To evaluate plasma cytokine levels (tumor necrosis factor α – TNF-α and interleukin-10 – IL-10) and their relationship with arterial stiffness parameters in patients with renal dysfunction (RD) at an early stage of the disease.
Material and methods. A total of 221 patients with RD aged from 19 to 88 years were examined. To assess the severity of RD, the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using blood cystatin C level was measured. All examined patients underwent evaluation of the lipid spectrum and plasma uric acid levels. The TNF-α concentration
(pg/mL) and IL-10 concentration (pg/mL) in the blood plasma were evaluated by the reagent kits (OOO Vector-Best, Novosibirsk) using ELISA technique (stiffness index – SI, augmentation index – AIP, alternative stiffness index – aSI, vascular age – VA, age index – AGI, reflection index – RI, increase index at a pulse rate of 75 per minute – PR = 75 – AIP 75, and pulse wave amplitude – PWA) on the "AngioScan-01" device. Depending on the TNF-α concentration, all examined patients were randomly divided into two groups: the group 1 (n=166) included patients with TNF-α level <2.0 pg/mL and the group 2 (n=55) – patients with TNF-α level ≥2.01 pg/mL.
Results. Patients in the group 2 (TNF-α level ≥2.01 pg/mL) had higher AIP level – 13.3 (1.20–23.4) versus 9.35 (-3.7–21.5)% (р<0.05) and increase index with a pulse rate of 75 per minute (AIP 75) 16.1 (6.4–25.1) versus 10.5 (1.5–19.4)% (р<0.05) compared with the group 1 (TNF-α concentration <2.0 pg/mL). In the 2nd group, the statistically significant direct relationship between the TNF-α and blood plasma cystatin C concentrations (0.406; р=0.019), as well as the tendency of inverse correlation between TNF-α and the calculated GFR (-0.267; р=0.051) were also revealed.
Conclusion. At an early stage of RD, an increase in the TNF-α concentration is associated with an increase in AIP.

Keywords: renal dysfunction, cytokines, tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin-10, arterial stiffness