The changes of cytokines in children with hand-foot-mouth disease

Abstract

Objective To study the changes of cytokines in children with hand-foot and mouth disease.Methods Sixty-two cases of hand-foot-mouth disease admitted to our hospital from March 2011 to December 2011 were included in this study.Thirty-seven cases were male and 25 cases were female,the youngest one was four month old,and the oldest one was eleven month and 4 years old,the average age was (1.56 ± 0.98) years old.Sixty-two children with hand-foot-mouth disease were devided into ordinary group (n =20),severe group (n =20),critically ill group (n =22).Twenty healthy children served as control group.The plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α,interleukin(IL)-1β、IL-6] and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1 0、IL-13、IL-4) were detected.Results The pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines of patients with hand-foot and mouth disease were increased compared with control group.The levels of TNF-α in severe and critically ill groups were (201.45 ± 133.42) ng/L,(220.37 ± 117.54)ng/L respectively,which significantly increased compared with ordinary group [(118.12 ±11205) ng/L] (P ＜0.05).The levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in critically ill cases were (651.77 ±538.45) ng/L and (88.02 ±50.76) ng/L respectively,which significantly increased compared with severe cases [(551.75 ± 252.75) ng/L,(59.25 ± 28.80) ng/L] and ordinary cases [(270.18 ± 249.79) ng/L,(55.76 ± 28.68) ng/L] (P ＜ 0.05).The level of IL-10 was (137.53 ± 72.07) ng/L in ordinary cases,which increased significantly compared with the severe and critically ill cases[(57.07 ±55.02) ng/L,(73.37 ±56.01) ng/L] (P ＜0.05).The levels of IL-13 were (507.53 ±210.86) ng/L and (489.67 ± 168.99) ng/L in severe and critically ill cases respectively,which significantly increased compared with ordinary cases [(387.16± 157.43) ng/L] (P ＜0.05).The levels of IL-4 showed no significant differences among the ordinary,severe and critically ill groups(P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion The pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines were involved in inflammatory response simultaneously in patients with hand-foot and mouth disease.The increases of TNF-α,IL-1β and IL-6 are consistent with severity of the disease,while factor IL-10,IL-13 are decreased as the severity of the disease.The increase of the pro-inflammatory cytokines and decrease of the anti-inflammatory cytokines are the important sign of the exacerbation. Key words: Hand foot and mouth disease; Cytokine