<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>Patients with obstructive jaundice have an increased incidence of peri-operative complications and
immune dysfunction. This study was to investigate interleukin (IL)-12 (a cellular immunity stimulant),
levels in jaundiced patients. 23 jaundiced patients and 17 controls were studied. There was significantly
increased monocyte IL-12 production in jaundice, as measured by an ELISA, compared with that in
controls (p&lt;0.01 by Mann-Whitney U test). A similar increase is seen in both benign and malignant
jaundice. There was no difference between plasma IL-12 levels in the two groups. It is concluded that in
jaundice, monocytes have a significantly increased capacity to release IL-12. This suggests that IL-12 may
play a role in the immune dysfunction in jaundiced patients.</p>
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HPB Surg. 1996; 9(4):219-221