G-CSF as a potential early biomarker for diagnosis of bloodstream infection

Abstract

Background: Cytokines play an important role in bacterial infection, and thus, we aim to find out cytokines that may be diagnostically significant in early stage of bacterial bloodstream infection. Methods: Mice models infected with Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae were established. Then dynamic changes of nine serum cytokines were monitored within 48 hours after the infection. Cytokines with significant differences between the infected groups and control group were further analyzed. Clinical samples of patients who were suspected of bloodstream infection were collected. Then the diagnostic efficiency of screened cytokines was determined with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results: As for mice models infected by Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae, six cytokines including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12p70, G-CSF, IFN-γ, and TNF-α were significantly different (P