INTRODUCTION

Guillain-Barre syndrome(GBS) is an  acute onset, acquired post infectious immune mediated inflammatory polyneuropathy.Cytokines play a climacteric role in the pathogenesis. We assayed  the plasma concentrations of IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, Interferon-ϒ, IL-17) in GBS and analyzed their correlations with clinical characteristics and the severity of the disease

METHODS

GBS Patients (1-16 years) within 7 days of onset of illness were enrolled an and the levels of plasma interleukins were determined by commercially available Human Sandwich ELISA(Diaclone) kits .

RESULTS

A significant high titers of IL-2,IL-6,1L-17, IF γ in the plasma samples of study subjects were observed when compared to controls. T-test analysis showed significantly high titers with p values of 1L-2 (0.004), IL-6 (<0.001), 1L-17 (<0.001), IF γ (0.008). These interleukin levels were further compared among the variants of GBS which showed a significant higher  titres of IL-6 and IF-γ  in acute inflammatory demyilinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) subjects and  a significant higher titres of  TNF α in Acute motor axonal neuropathy(AMAN) subjects. Thus postulating a probable specific association of 1L-6 and IF-γ with AIDP ,and TNF α with AMAN.

CONCLUSIONS

GBS despite being a common and debilitating illness,the core pathogenesis still remains complex and uncertain.Our study contributes the role of  these cytokines in the early stages of GBS,thus postulating to be useful biomarkers in the diagnosis ,prognosticating, subtyping the variants of GBS.Additionally these cytokines may have potential future application as therapeutic targets for treating GBS patients.