The change of serum IL-12 and IL-18 level in patients with viral hepatitis and hepatic cirrhosis

To investigate the changes and clinical significances of serum IL-12 and IL-18 levels in patients with viral hepatitis and hepatic cirrhosis. Serum IL-12 and IL-18 levels were determined by ELISA method in hepatitis patients, cirrhotic patients and normal controls. Concentration of serum IL-12 and IL-18 in patients with different type of viral hepatitis and cirrhosis were significantly higher than those in healthy volunteers ( P 0 01). The levels of IL-12 and IL-18 in patients with severe hepatitis were the highest among those groups. Moreover, concentration of IL-12 and IL-18 in the dead patients with fulminant hepatitis were also significantly higher than those in the survivals. There was a close positive correlations between serum interleukins and concentration of serum AST, ALT and TBil; IL-12 also high correlate with CⅣ and HA. Our results suggested that IL-12 and IL-18 maybe participate in liver inflammatory injury process, their levels can reflect the degree of liver damage in patients with viral hepatitis and cirrhosis, and detecting the two interleukins could predict the prognosis in patient with severe hepatitis.