title: Concentrations of interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and TNF-alpha in cerebrospinal fluid from children with septic or aseptic meningitis.
abstract: Cytokines at an inflammatory site may be a better indicator of the clinical severity of an infectious disease than the serum levels of the cytokines. Concentrations of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) in paired samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 10 rabbits with experimental bacterial meningitis caused by H. influenzae type b, were measured, and compared to the concentrations of four cytokines; IL-1 beta, interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in CSF samples from 45 children with or without meningitis. The IL-1 beta concentrations in the CSF from rabbits with experimental meningitis were significantly higher than the concentrations in control animals without meningitis (p < 0.001). The mean CSF concentrations of IL-8 from meningitic children were significantly higher than in the control group without meningitis (p < 0.005). TNF-alpha was only detected in septic meningitis. Assays of IL-6, however, were not significantly different in the septic meningitis group, the aseptic meningitis group and the non-meningitis group. These data indicate a possible role of IL-1 beta, IL-8 and TNF-alpha as mediators in the meningeal inflammatory process in patients with meningitis and TNF-alpha, in particular, may play a role in the pathogenesis of septic meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Handa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D008297:Male; D008582:Meningitis, Aseptic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D011817:Rabbits; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha