All issues > Volume 47(5); 2004

Original Article

Korean J Pediatr. 2004;47(5):515-520. Published online May 15, 2004.

Cytokines in Neonatal Sepsis

Hye Jin HJ Park¹, So Yeon SY Kim¹, Jun Hwa JH Lee¹, Eun Jin EJ Choi¹, Jin Kyung JK Kim¹, Sang Gyung SG Kim², Hai Lee HL Chung¹, Woo Taek WT Kim¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, Korea
²Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, Korea

Correspondence Woo Taek WT Kim ,Email: wootykim@cu.ac.kr

Abstract

Purpose
: Maternal premature rupture of membrane(PROM) over 24 hours is a risk factor in neonatal sepsis and a main cause of administration to neonatal intensive care unit. Levels of proinflammatory cytokines were studied to diagnose and treat early in newborn infants with sepsis and with a history of maternal PROM.
Methods
: Interleukin-1β(IL-1β), Interleukin-6(IL-6), Interleukin-8(IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were checked using ELISA kits in neonatal infants who were admitted to the Catholic University of Daegu from May, 2002 to Feb, 2003. We divided them into three sets of groups; sepsis group(n=26), PROM group(n=20), and control group(n=24).
Results
: Levels of IL-1β, IL-8, and TNF-α in the sepsis group were all significantly statistically different from the PROM and the control group, but there was no significant difference between the PROM group and the control group. Levels of IL-6 in the sepsis, the PROM, and the control group were all significantly statistically different from each other.
Conclusion
: Levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in the sepsis group increased but only levels of IL-6 in the PROM group increased. Thus we can use cytokines as a marker of neonatal sepsis, especially, in neonatal infants with a history of maternal PROM.

Keywords :Sepsis, Interleukin-1β, Interleukin-6, Interleukin-8, TNF-α, Premature rupture of membrane