ABSTRACT
Introduction: Dengue fever is the most common mosquitoborne viral illness in humans. Study was done to determinethe serum levels of pro -inflammatory cytokines (IL-6,IFgamma and TNF alpha) in patients with dengue infection andto determine the correlation of level of cytokine with diseaseseverity, platelet count and SGOT values.Material and methods: Preserved samples of patients withthe clinical features compatible with dengue infection andNSI antigen positivity admitted during the month of Mayand June 2016 in Pushpagiri Institute of Medical science andResearch Centre, Thiruvalla were analysed for levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IF gamma, and TNF alpha).Disease severity of Dengue patients was assessed from theclinical details obtained from medical records. Total samplesused in this study were 80 of which 49 were patients withdengue fever,11 were patients with severe dengue,10 werepatients with other febrile illness and 10 are from healthyindividuals.Results: The levels of all three cytokines were found to beelevated in the infected groups (dengue and severe dengue)when compared to the control groups (healthy and nondengue). The level of interleukin 6 and TNF alpha were foundto be significantly elevated (p value <0.05) in the severe formof dengue. However no statistically significant difference(p value <0.05) between the infected and control group wasfound in Interferon gamma although it showed an elevation inthe infected group. It was observed that all the three cytokinesshowed a negative correlation with platelet count.Conclusions: IL6 and TNF alpha correlated with diseaseseverity suggesting that these cytokines can be used as amarker to predict the severity of the disease. Thus, necessarytreatments and precaution can be taken in advance. TNFalpha correlated with the degree of thrombocytopenia and IL6correlated with level of SGOT.