title: Blood cytokine and complement levels in patients with sepsis.
abstract: We measured serum levels of endotoxin, cytokines, and eicosanoids and investigated their relationship to serum complement levels in patients with sepsis. Serum endotoxin (Et) levels (5.3 +/- 2.4 pg/ml) were within the normal range, but levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha, 114 +/- 104.94 pg/ml), interleukin 6 (IL-6, 86.7 +/- 50.9 pg/ml), interleukin 8 (IL-8, 86.8 +/- 49.7 pg/ml), type-II phospholipase A2 (type II PLA2, 211.3 +/- 193.9 ng/ml), leukotriene B4 (LTB4, 88.7 +/- 27.2 pg/ml), thromboxane B2 (TXB2, 58.7 +/- 50.9 pg/ml) and 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha (PGF1 alpha, 21.0 +/- 11.0 pg/ml) levels were above normal. Levels of C3a (1088.4 +/- 83.8.7 ng/ml) and C4a (1951.5 +/- 1697.8 ng/ml) were also above normal; C3 (66.0 +/- 25.6 mg/dl) and C4 (23.6 +/- 5.3 mg/dl) were within the normal range, and C5a was lower than the detectable limit in all but one of the subjects. Serum TNF-alpha was significantly correlated with C3a (p < 0.001). Serum IL-6 had a significant negative correlation with C3 (p = 0.002) and C4 (p = 0.010). Type II PLA2 was significantly correlated with C3a (p < 0.001). There were no significant correlations between serum Et or IL-8 and serum C3, C4, C3a or C4a. Our findings suggest that increased levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and Type II PLA/ in patients with sepsis contribute to activation of the complement system.
authors.affiliation: Critical Care and Emergency Center, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takakuwa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakae
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inada
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001095:Arachidonic Acids / Q000097:blood; D003167:Complement Activation; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010741:Phospholipases A / Q000097:blood; D054467:Phospholipases A2; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001095:Arachidonic Acids; D016207:Cytokines; D004731:Endotoxins; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D010741:Phospholipases A; D054467:Phospholipases A2