Cytokine
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Cytokines are inflammatory mediators of major relevance during sepsis. Recent evidence shows that adipose tissue can produce many distinct cytokines under physiological and pathological conditions, but the role of cytokines produced in adipose tissue was not addressed in sepsis. In the present study the open-flow microperfusion (OFM) technique was used to investigate whether the cytokines produced in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of patients with severe sepsis correlate with clinical variables. ⋯ Interleukin-1beta, 6 and 8 were higher in SAT than in serum suggesting they were locally produced. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) negatively correlated with IL-1beta, IL-6 and IL-8 in SAT indicating a possible interaction between adipose tissue inflammation and vascular tone regulation. A multiple regression analysis disclosed that mean DBP was significantly related to IL-6 concentrations in SAT (B=-43.9; R-square=0.82; P=0.002).
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The occurrence of severe sepsis may be associated with deficient pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFbeta-1) predominantly inhibits inflammation and may simultaneously promote IL-17 production. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a recently described pro-inflammatory cytokine, which may be important in auto-immunity and infection. We investigated the hypothesis that the onset of sepsis is related to differential TGFbeta-1 and IL-17 gene expression. ⋯ Down regulation of TGFbeta-1 gene transcription was related to the occurrence of infection but not the onset of sepsis. Interleukin-17 production in PBMC may not be significant in the human host response to infection.