Marked elevation of interferon-γ in acute focal bacterial nephritis

Abstract

Acute focal bacterial nephritis (AFBN) is a localized, interstitial bacterial infection of the renal parenchyma. In this study, we measured the serum levels of several cytokines in patients with AFBN. A total of 11 children were enrolled in the study and classified into two groups of patients: an AFBN group and a control group. There was no significant difference in the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, or tumor necrosis factor-α among the patients in the two groups. However, the serum levels of interferon-γ among the patients in the AFBN group were significantly higher than those among the patients in the control group. The current results suggest that the bacterial kidney infection in the AFBN group is localized and that interferon-γ may be produced locally in response to the infection.

Acute focal bacterial nephritis characterized by acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion

“…The main pathophysiology of our patient may be excitotoxicity because he had a prolonged seizure lasting 40 min. Some studies have reported inflammatory responses in AFBN and have shown higher serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-10, and soluble TNF-receptor 1 (sTNFR1) or an increase in some of these [2,7,8]. Our results are compatible with these results as our patient showed markedly increased serum IL-6, IL-10, and IFN-γ levels on admission, which then gradually decreased.…”

“…They explained that the increased serum cytokine levels may be due to inflammation in the blood of patients with AEPFS and the elevated CSF IL-6 levels may play a protective role against the excitotoxic damaged brain tissue. Therefore, the high levels of serum IL-6, IL-10, and INF-γ in our patient may be due to severe inflammatory damage of the kidney because these levels seemed to be higher than that reported previously [2,7,8].…”

“…Although AFBN sometimes causes neurological symptoms [3,7], and a case with clinically mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion (MERS) associated with AFBN has already been reported [7], no cases of AFBN with AESD have been reported. Additionally, although some studies have investigated the characteristics of the cytokine profiles in patients with AFBN [2,7,8], none have shown the serial cytokine profiles of patients with a severe form of acute encephalopathy.…”