The role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of pneumonia in preterm newborns

Zhuravleva L.N., Novikova V.I.

Vitebsk State Medical University, Vitebsk, Belarus

The aim of our investigation was to determine the level and role of cytokines in preterm newborns with pneumonia.
Material and methods. Cytokine status in blood serum and tracheal aspirate (TA) was studied in 20 healthy newborns and 38 children with neonatal pneumonia.
Results. The content of IL-4 in the blood serum of patients with a favorable course of neonatal pneumonia was ten times higher than in the control group during the onset of neonatal pneumonia (107.4 ± 9.4 vs. 6.9 ± 7.4, respectively) (p <0.001). By the sixth to seventh days of life, the content of IL-4 in the blood serum of patients with favorable and unfavorable course remained significantly higher (82.7 ± 12.7 and 47.5 ± 6.7, respectively) in comparison with the control group (p <0.001 ).
In dynamics increasing of IL-4 in the tracheobronchial aspirate (34.9 ± 8.7 - on the 6-7th day of the disease versus 18.5 ± 4.7) was consistent with the favorable prognostic dynamics of the inflammatory process. The increase in TNF-α (48.4 ± 9.3 in the onset of the disease and 89.6 ± 13.7 on the 6-7th day of the disease) during the course of the disease and initially high levels of IL-8 (3108.6 ± 315.4) in the TA pointed to an unfavorable outcome of the disease.