Research Article

The Causative Pathogen Determines the Inflammatory Profile in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Outcome in Patients with Bacterial Meningitis

Table 2

CSF inflammatory parameters of patients infected with SP ( ), NM ( ), and Hib ( ).

Streptococcus pneumoniae Neisseria meningitidis Haemophilus influenzae Kruskal-Wallis Between group significance
Median (min.–max.) (pg/mL)Median (min.–max.) (pg/mL)Median (min.–max.) (pg/mL)

IL-1β116.2 (1.79–1040)23.01 (0.61–325.9)13.3 (0.77–112.5)0.069(b)
IL-23.28 (0.38–19.81)1.41 (0.38–25.69)1.6 (0.18–3.83)ns
IL-6106232 (4440–175553)93316 (5917–162002)23257 (3917–112594)0.0551(b)
IL-107515 (509.5–44609)18604 (1883–217931)12692 (1466–135980)ns
IL-1RA103123 (4413–983243)243089 (3183–639929)216530 (7712–1301000)ns
TNF-α233.8 (34.85–1199)318.2 (17.6–3390)170.3 (43.63–1395)ns
IFN-γ58.99 (8.03–2853)8.94 (1.77–219.8)8.62 (0.42–20.03)<0.01(a), (b)
MCP-110109 (1691–23567)1896 (309.8–40005)2059 (411.4–3897)<0.04(a), (b)
MIP-1α829.1 (30.75–3828)1469 (133.8–27027)1152 (135.6–12782)ns
MIP-1β3344 (575.8–7518)3263 (530.7–90852)2563 (1364–22695)ns
TGF-α73.4 (16.36–302.3)65.26 (10.3–146.5)43.23 (27.52–305.2)ns
MMP-91.51 × 106 (275632–4.5 × 106)525821 (1877–5.32 × 106)334058 (12440–2.006 × 106)<0.03(a), (b)
WBC7020 (100–64000)4900 (100–38560)5540 (272–20000)ns
Nitrite/nitrate*19.8 (9.5–104)37 (19.24–124.1)21.36 (4.533–41.5)0.059(c)

The nitrite/nitrate concentration (NO) was determined in a subset of CSFs, due to limitations in the available sample volumes (Hib , SP = 8, and NM = 12). The column entitled “Between group significance” describes statistical significance between groups as determined by Mann-Whitney test, for the following comparisons (a) SP versus NM, (b) SP versus Hib, and (c) NM versus Hib.