title: Cytokine levels in patients with chikungunya virus infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate cytokine profile in patients with chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty eight pairs of serum samples collected from CHIKV infected patients during the outbreak of chikungunya fever in South Thailand in 2008 were obtained. A multiple cytokine assay for detection of 17 cytokines was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the acute stage of CHIKV infection, the patients had significantly higher levels of interleukin-6, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 and tumor necrosis factor alpha than the control (P<0.001, P=0.023, P=0.015, P<0.001 and P=0.024, respectively). When the disease developed to the recovery stage, the patients had significantly lower levels of interleukin-6, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 and macrophage inflammatory protein beta than in the acute stage (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides additional information that these cytokines could play roles in pathogenesis of CHIKV infection and could be used as disease biomarkers or drug targets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. chintana.ch@chula.ac.th
authors.forename: Chintana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chirathaworn
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Poovorawan
authors.forename: Somrat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lertmaharit
authors.forename: Norra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wuttirattanakowit
mesh_terms: D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D065632:Chikungunya Fever; D002646:Chikungunya virus / Q000276:immunology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines