title: Serum and urine interleukin-6 and transforming growth factor-beta1 in young infants with pyelonephritis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cytokines are involved both in the acute response during pyelonephritis and in the progression to renal scarring. The aim of the present study was to assess the pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the anti-inflammatory pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta) in very young infants with pyelonephritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum and urine concentrations of IL-6 and TGF-beta1 were determined by enzyme immunoassay in infants with acute pyelonephritis before antibiotic treatment and in infants with non-renal fever. IL-6 was studied in 12 infants with pyelonephritis and in eight with non-renal fever (median ages, 2 months for both groups). TGF-beta1 was studied in 11 infants with pyelonephritis and in nine with non-renal fever (median ages, 2 and 4 months, respectively).
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were documented in serum concentrations of IL-6 and TGF-beta1 between patients and controls. Urine IL-6 levels were significantly higher in infants with pyelonephritis than in controls (medians, 147 and 21.4 pg/ml, respectively; P = 0.0106). The urine levels of TGF-beta1 were lower in infants with pyelonephritis than in controls, although not significantly (medians, 6.12 and 11.0 ng/ml, respectively; P = 0.0705).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings confirm the implication of IL-6 but not of TGF-beta1 in the pathogenesis of the early stages of pyelonephritis in young infants. Tauhe role of the pro-fibrotic TGF-beta1 in the development of renal scarring deserves further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Emmanouil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Galanakis
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bitsori
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dimitriou
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giannakopoulou
authors.forename: Nickolaos S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Karkavitsas
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalmanti
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D011704:Pyelonephritis / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1