title: Interleukin-18 plasma levels are increased in patients with sepsis compared to severely injured patients.
abstract: Interleukin-18 (IL-18) appears to play a critical role in cytokine-induced organ failure during endotoxemia in animal models. Therefore, plasma samples from patients with severe trauma and sepsis were examined for the presence of IL-18. Significantly elevated plasma IL-18 concentrations were found in patients with sepsis compared to severely injured patients and healthy humans. Septic patients who died and patients with septic shock exhibited higher levels of IL-18 than survivors and septic patients without shock. In addition, septic patients with gram-positive infections had significantly higher IL-18 plasma levels than patients with gram-negative infection. These findings were confirmed by whole blood assay from healthy humans where Staphylococcus aureus markedly (P < 0.05) increased the release of IL-18 in whole blood ex vivo, while endotoxin was ineffective. Although obtained from a small patient group, these results suggest that IL-18 production may discriminate between gram-positive and gram-negative sepsis, and that increased IL-18 appearance may be associated with an adverse outcome in septic patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oberholzer
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Steckholzer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurimoto
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Trentz
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ertel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018805:Sepsis / Q000276:immunology*; D012772:Shock, Septic / Q000276:immunology; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D020382:Interleukin-18