ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the level changes of interleukin-15 (IL-15) and its role and clinical sig-nificance in severe type B hepatitis(HB). Methods IL-15 levels of 47 cases of severe HB and 20 cases of healthy subjects were detected by ELISA,meanwhile the alanine aminotransferase (ALT),total bilirubin (TBIL) and pro-thrombase activity (PTA) were measured as well. The correlation between IL-15 and ALT,TBIL and PTA were ana-lyzed. Results IL-15 in severe HB eases were higher than in control group [(18.9±7.5 ) ng/L vs. (5.9±2.0) ng/L,P <0.01] ,which was higher in death group than in survival group[(24.1±7.5) ng/L vs. (15.7±5.4) ng/L, P<0.01]. IL-15 level was decreasing with the improvement of general condition and liver function recovery. In addition, IL-15 in severe HB was positively correlated with TBIL (r=0.570,P<0.01) and negatively correlated with PTA(r=-0.529,P<0.01) but was not significantly correlated with ALT(r=0.099,P>0.05). Conclusion IL-15 may take part in the pathogenesis of severe HB ,which is consistent with disease condition and is closely re-lated to the improvement of disease. The detection of IL-15 may exert a predicting role in the prognosis of severe HB.