title: Significantly higher cytokine and chemokine levels in patients with Japanese spotted fever than in those with Tsutsugamushi disease.
abstract: Tetracyclines are administered to cure Japanese spotted fever (JSF) and tsutsugamushi disease (TD). It is generally said that the clinical course of JSF is worse than that of TD despite antibiotic treatment. The precise mechanism underlying the more severe clinical course of JSF is not fully understood. We therefore examined whether the differential cytokine profile between these two infectious diseases contributes to the difference in clinical severity. The serum concentrations of various cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], interleukin-6 [IL-6], and gamma interferon [IFN-γ]) and chemokines (IL-8, interferon-inducible protein 10 [IP-10], monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 [MCP-1], macrophage inflammatory protein 1α [MIP-1α], MIP-1β, and eotaxin) were measured in 32 TD and 21 JSF patients. The results showed that serum levels of TNF-α in the acute phases of TD and JSF were significantly increased, with a higher concentration of TNF-α in patients with JSF (mean, 39.9 pg/ml) than in those with TD (mean, 13.8 pg/ml). Comparatively higher levels of other cytokines and chemokines (IL-6, IFN-γ, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, and MIP-1β) were also observed in the acute phase of JSF. The clinical severity score (3.67 ± 1.71) of JSF patients was higher than that of TD patients (1.47 ± 0.77). Our findings revealed that the cytokine and chemokine levels in the acute phase of JSF were significantly higher than those in the acute phase of TD. The differential cytokine levels may be related to the difference in clinical severity between JSF and TD.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Eiheiji, Fukui, Japan ktai@u-fukui.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Eiheiji, Fukui, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiromichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Eiheiji, Fukui, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikegaya
authors.affiliation: Senior Fellow Laboratory, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Eiheiji, Fukui, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takada
authors.affiliation: Tamaki Hospital, Tanabe, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tamaki
authors.affiliation: Shimane Prefecture Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Matsue, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tabara
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Eiheiji, Fukui, Japan.
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000473:pathology*; D012612:Scrub Typhus / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines