title: Interleukin 6 in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with meningitis is not a useful diagnostic marker in the differential diagnosis of meningitis.
abstract: We assayed interleukin 6 (IL-6) concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients affected by meningitis of different aetiologies, and verified whether IL-6 can be used as a diagnostic marker in the differential diagnosis of meningitis. We used a monoclonal antibody enzyme immunoassay to test 98 CSF samples classified as pyogenic (15), viral (15), self-resolving aseptic meningitis (20), other infectious meningitis (9), neoplastic (4) and normal CSF from patients with (20) and without (15) non-infectious neurological diseases. CSF IL-6 concentrations were increased in pyogenic meningitis (100%) and in more than 50% of viral and other subarachnoid space infections, and rarely in patients without central nervous system infections. Though patients affected by pyogenic meningitis showed the highest levels of CSF IL-6, only a cut-off point > or = 10000 pg/mL was able to discriminate pyogenic meningitis from those of other aetiologies with a specificity > or = 94% and a positive predictive value of > or = 0.75 but the sensitivity was < or = 60%. Therefore, CSF IL-6 concentration is not a good diagnostic marker in the differential diagnosis of meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: López-Cortés
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cruz-Ruiz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gómez-Mateos
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Hernández
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Viciana-Fernández
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Mejías
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008587:Meningitis, Viral / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6