Clinical significance of Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B19kDa interacting protein 3 in patients with hand, foot and mouth disease

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B19kDa interacting protein 3 (BNIP3) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with severe hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). Methods Ninety children with HFMD were classified into three groups with 30 in each group: critical group (clinical stage 3), severe group (clinical stage 2) and common group (clinical stage 1, excluding encephalitis with CSF and other examinations). Another thirty healthy children were randomly selected as the control group. The levels of BNIP3 in serum and CSF were detected before and after treatment. Moreover, serum neuro-specific enolase (NSE) and S100B protein were also measured to analyze their correlation with BNIP3. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the prediction efficiency of BNIP3 for the severity of HFMD. Results The levels of serum BNIP3, S100B protein and NSE in the critical group were higher than those in the other three groups (P<0.01). CSF BNIP3 level in the critical group were significantly higher than that in the common and severe groups (P<0.01). Serum BNIP3, S100B protein and NSE were significantly higher in the severe group than in common and control groups (P<0.01). CSF BNIP3 was significantly increased in the severe group as compared with that in the common group (P<0.01). After treatment, the levels of BNIP3, S100B protein and NSE in serum and BNIP3 in CSF were decreased in both critical and severe groups (P<0.01). The levels of BNIP3 in serum and CSF were positively correlated with the level of S100B protein and NSE (P<0.01). Serum BNIP3 had the highest Youden value at the cut-off value of 3.015 μg/L, with a sensitivity of 83.33% and a specificity of 90.00%, in the prediction of severe HFMD. CSF BNIP3 had the highest Youden value at the cut-off value of 1.735 μg/L, with a sensitivity of 73.33% and a specificity of 93.33%, in the prediction of severe HFMD. Conclusions BNIP3 is involved in the pathological process of brain injury in children with severe HFMD. Detection of BNIP3 helps evaluate the severity and prognosis of HFMD. Key words: Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19kDa interacting protein 3; Hand, foot and mouth disease; Child