Cerebrospinal fluid levels of interleukin-6 and interleukin-12 in children with meningitis.

Purpose: Certain cytokines play important roles in the pathophysiology of meningitis. The main purpose of this study was to investigate if the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) could be diagnostic predictors of bacterial meningitis in children.

Methods: CSF was obtained from 95 patients suspected with meningitis. These cases were classified to the bacterial meningitis (n = 12), aseptic meningitis (n = 41), and nonmeningitis (n = 42) groups. The levels of IL-6 and IL-12 in CSF were measured using the enzyme-linked immmunosorbent assays test.

Results: The CSF IL-6 levels in the bacterial meningitis group (45.2 +/- 50.0 pg/ml) were significantly higher than those in the aseptic meningitis group (12.9 +/- 10.2 pg/ml) and the nonmeningitis group (6.5 +/- 7.8 pg/ml; p < 0.05). The CSF IL-12 levels in the bacterial meningitis group (69.8 +/- 67.1 pg/ml) were significantly higher than those in the aseptic meningitis group (22.9 +/- 10.8 pg/ml) and the nonmeningitis group (15.3 +/- 11.2 pg/ml; p < 0.05). With regard to diagnosis, the measurement of CSF IL-6 and IL-12 levels showed sensitivities of 96% and 96%, respectively, and specificities of 51% and 75%, respectively.

Conclusion: It is suggested that the CSF IL-6 and IL-12 levels are useful markers for distinguishing bacterial meningitis from aseptic meningitis.