title: Hepatocyte growth factor level in cerebrospinal fluid as an additional marker in patient with drug-resistant streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis treated with linezolid.
abstract: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a multifunctional cytokine that has well-defined mitogenic, motogenic, and morphogenic functions on the epithelial cells. Strong increases of HGF concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are only present in patients with acute bacterial meningitis. We report a 15-year-old young man with drug resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis complicated with right 6th cranial nerve palsy. He presented with fever, headache and neck stiffness for 3 days and was treated with intravenous antimicrobial agents including linezolid and dexamethasone successfully. An association between CSF HGF concentrations and CSF proteins is observed (r = 0.897, p = 0.039. Pearson correlation test). This result showed that HGF level in CSF might act as an additional marker in patients with bacterial meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. ; Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hung-Chin
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Yao-Shen
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Susan Shin-Jung
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yu-Hung
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shue-Ren
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wann
authors.forename: Cheng Len
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Sy
authors.forename: Yung-Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Streptococcus pneumoniae; drug-resistance; hepatocyte growth factor; linezolid; meningitis