title: Diagnostic value of cytokine assays in cerebrospinal fluid in culture-negative, polymerase chain reaction-positive bacterial meningitis.
abstract: Analysis of bacterial DNA using a polymerase chain reaction performed with broad-range eubacterial 16S rDNA primers may yield a diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in cases where Gram staining of cerebrospinal fluid (CFS), antigen detection techniques or culture fail. Since this PCR technique occasionally gives false-positive results due to contamination of samples or laboratory reagents, a study was performed to establish the diagnostic value of assaying concentrations of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in 90 CSF samples. A high correlation was found between a positive PCR result and the concentrations of TNF-alpha and IL-10, indicating that cytokine assays may be used as a confirmatory test. The findings suggested that a combination of the PCR technique, amplicon sequencing and assay of TNF-alpha and IL-10 concentrations in CSF is a reliable and cost-effective procedure for diagnosis of culture-negative bacterial meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Microbiologia Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università la Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lorino
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Angeletti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gherardi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Cesaris
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gherardi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Battistoni
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Filadoro
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dicuonzo
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016753:Interleukin-10