The clinical significance of IL-6s and IL-27s in Bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from children with mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia

Abstract

Backgrounds: IL-6 is associated with the severity of mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP). But the relationship between IL-27 and MPP was unknown.Methods: 98 patients with MPP who were under 14 years old, were enrolled in this study and divided into mild cases and severe cases, Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) single infection group and MP mixed infection group, and low MP DNA loads group and high MP DNA loads group, by severity, infection types and DNA loads respectively. 15 children with foreign bodies for bronchus were also enrolled as control. IL-6s and IL-27s in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs) from these children were measured by ELISA.Results: There were significant differences in IL-6s of BALFs from patients between mild cases and severe cases, MP single infection group and MP mixed infection group, and low MP DNA loads group and high MP DNA loads group, respectively (P 0.05). Compared with IL-6s of BALFs from control, IL-6 in BALFs from the 5 patient groups were significantly higher (P 0.05) except that from low MP DNA loads group. IL-27s in BALFs from MP mixed infection group were significantly lower than those from MP single infection group and control (P 0.05) respectively.Conclusion: IL-6 was firmly associated with MPP and had potential application in clinical practice while IL-27 was not related to MP infection. BackgroundMycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is one of the main pathogens in respiratory infections in children. It causes more than 40% of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) cases in children and 18% of these cases need hospitalization [1] . At present there have been many problems with patients suffering from Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) such as the increasing macrolide resistance rate [2] , the complex multiple systemic complications [3] , the increasing occurrence of refractory MPP [4] .Therefore, MPP has attracted great attentions from many researchers and patients. It is widely recognized that immune function disorders have been involved in the pathogenesis of MPP [5] . And IL-6 is an important cytokine which can regulate immune function [6] . It is involved in the infection process of MP and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of MPP [7] . One study suggested that