Concentration variation of interleukin 18,interleukin 4 and γ interferon in serum from patients with chronic severe hepatitis B

Objective To explore the variation of interleukin 18(IL-18),interleukin 4(IL-4) and γ interferon(IFN-γ) in the patients with chronic severe hepatitis B.Methods Serum was obtained from 25 healthy individuals,35 chronic virus hepatitis B patients and 45 chronic severe hepatitis B patients.The concentration of IL-18,IL-4 and IFN-γ were examined by solid phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results IL-18,IL-4 levels had significant differences among three groups.The concentration of serum IFN-γ had no different significance between chronic virus hepatitis B group and chronic severe hepatitis B group,but IFN-γ was higher in the two patient groups than in the control group.The levels of IL-18 and IL-4 had obvious differences between survivors and non-survivors of the patients(P 0.05),whereas IFN-γ had no difference.The concentration of IL-18,IL-4 and IFN-γ were lower in recovery phase than in severe phase.IL-4 was positively correlated with IL-18(r= 0.6,P 0.01),and IL-4 was positively correlated with IFN-γ(r= 0.54,P 0.01) in chronic severe hepatitis B group.Conclusion IL-18,IL-4 and IFN-γ affected progress of disease and played an important role in pathological damages.