Serum Levels of Seven General Cytokines in Acute Brucellosis Before and After Treatment

Yunxia Tang; Chenjie Ma; Huali Sun; Siyuan Yang; Fengting Yu; Xingwang Li; Linghang Wang

doi:10.2147/IDR.S341331

Serum Levels of Seven General Cytokines in Acute Brucellosis Before and After Treatment

Infect Drug Resist. 2021 Dec 18:14:5501-5510. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S341331. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yunxia Tang^#^{1

2}, Chenjie Ma^#^{1

2}, Huali Sun³, Siyuan Yang^{1

2}, Fengting Yu^{1

2}, Xingwang Li^{1

2}, Linghang Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
² Clinical Center for HIV/AIDS, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: Human brucellosis is the most common bacterial zoonosis globally that poses a severe health threat. Despite the availability of antibiotic therapy for human brucellosis, its tendencies of chronicity and persistence may lead to severe debilitating and disabling conditions in patients. Comprehensive understanding of the immune response in brucellosis will be helpful in improving the treatment strategies. In this study, we measured serum levels of T helper cell type 1 (Th1), Th2, and Th17 cytokines in patients with acute brucellosis before and after treatment.

Patients and methods: Overall, 30 patients with acute brucellosis from the Beijing Di Tan Hospital and 26 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All the patients received a 6-week therapy regimen comprising ceftriaxone, doxycycline, and rifampicin. Serum samples were collected from patients with acute Brucella infection and healthy controls before and after treatment. Serum seven cytokine levels of Th1 (IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α), Th2 (IL-4, IL-6, IL-10), and Th17 (IL-17A) were measured using cytometric bead array.

Results: In patients with acute infection, the IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10 levels were significantly increased compared with those in healthy controls (P < 0.001). After treatment, IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10 levels significantly decreased (P < 0.05) and the TNF-α level significantly increased compared with the corresponding baseline levels and those in healthy controls (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-10 levels were higher in patients after treatment than in healthy controls (P < 0.05). IL-2 and IL-6 levels exhibited a positive correlation with the C-reactive protein (CRP) level in acute brucellosis (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Levels of most serum Th1 and Th2 cytokines were simultaneously increased in acute infection, followed by reduction in the corresponding cytokine levels and residual cytokine response during treatment. This residual immune response could represent a therapeutic opportunity that may improve the long-term clinical outcomes in patients with acute brucellosis after treatment.

Keywords: Th1; Th2; acute infection; brucellosis; cytokines; cytometric bead array.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Fund Grant of Open Project of Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases (Grant No. DTKF201804).