title: High IL-6 serum levels are associated with septic shock and mortality in septic patients with severe leukopenia due to hematological malignancies.
abstract: The serum levels of immunoreactive interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) were analyzed in 14 leukopenic patients with documented sepsis, at 60 min (T0), 24 h (T1), and one week (T3) after the onset of sepsis syndrome. Sera from 10 leukopenic patients without sepsis (controls) were also tested. All septic patients had high IL-6 levels at T0. These levels persisted only in the seven patients who died of septic shock, presenting a 30-fold increase (p<0.001) as compared to the survivors and the controls. At T3, 7 survivors had recovered from sepsis and showed low IL-6 serum levels. The TNF serum concentration always <30 pg/ml in both the subjects and in the controls. The C-reactive protein (CRP) and clinical parameters appeared to be less specifically associated with shock and mortality than IL-6.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antonelli
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Raponi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martino
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jalouk
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gasparetto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D007938:Leukemia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D016014:Linear Models; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality; D015996:Survival Rate; D018746:Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha