Abstract
Background
Cytokines are involved both in the acute response during pyelonephritis and in the progression to renal scarring. The aim of the present study was to assess the pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the anti-inflammatory pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta) in very young infants with pyelonephritis.
Methods
Serum and urine concentrations of IL-6 and TGF-beta1 were determined by enzyme immunoassay in infants with acute pyelonephritis before antibiotic treatment and in infants with non-renal fever. IL-6 was studied in 12 infants with pyelonephritis and in eight with non-renal fever (median ages, 2 months for both groups). TGF-beta1 was studied in 11 infants with pyelonephritis and in nine with non-renal fever (median ages, 2 and 4 months, respectively).
Results
No significant differences were documented in serum concentrations of IL-6 and TGF-beta1 between patients and controls. Urine IL-6 levels were significantly higher in infants with pyelonephritis than in controls (medians, 147 and 21.4 pg/ml, respectively; P = 0.0106). The urine levels of TGF-beta1 were lower in infants with pyelonephritis than in controls, although not significantly (medians, 6.12 and 11.0 ng/ml, respectively; P = 0.0705).
Conclusions
Our findings confirm the implication of IL-6 but not of TGF-beta1 in the pathogenesis of the early stages of pyelonephritis in young infants. Τhe role of the pro-fibrotic TGF-beta1 in the development of renal scarring deserves further investigation.
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Galanakis, E., Bitsori, M., Dimitriou, H. et al. Serum and urine interleukin-6 and transforming growth factor-beta1 in young infants with pyelonephritis. Int Urol Nephrol 39, 581–585 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-006-9045-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-006-9045-1