Diagnostic and prognostic role of markers of inflammation and vascular endothelial growth factor in infectious endocarditis

Abstract

The peculiarities of primary and secondary infective endocarditis (IE) were studied in 62 patients with primary and secondary IE, uncomplicated and complicated disease treated in S. P. Botkin city clinical hospital including analysis of dynamics of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) within 3 weeks after the onset of antibiotic therapy. A rise in TNF α and IL-6 levels was shown to correlate with the severity of the disease and the development of infectious-toxic syndrome. Most patients had an increased level of VEGF, a mediator involved in the regulation of inflammation. It was shown that combination of high TNF-α and IL-6 levels with the initially low or gradually increasing VEGF levelsuggests the unfavourable prognosis characteristic of the most heavily diseased anddeceased patients.