Features of cytokine status in patients with chronic EBV- infections

Abstract

Infections caused by EBV are the most common and occupy an important place in the structure of herpes aetiology diseases. The purpose of this work was to study the characteristics of the cytokine status in patients with chronic EBV infection, depending on the level of viral replication. We examined 78 patients with chronic EBV infection, the main clinical manifestations of which were various immunopathological and immunodeficiency states: Group I – with low, Group II – with medium, Group III - with a high degree of viral replication. The Tiff method was used using the Vector-Best reagent kits (Novosibirsk, Russia) to study the cytokine profile in the serum of patients with EBV infection. The determination of alpha and gamma fractions of serum interferon was carried out using the ELISA method by means of the ProCon IF2 plus reagent kit manufactured by Protein Contour LLC (St. Petersburg, Russia). As a result of a study of the cytokine status in patients with chronic EBV infection, it was found that in all three groups there was a significant increase in both pro-inflammatory (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) and antiinflammatory cytokines (IL-10, IL 4, TGFβ1). However, anti-inflammatory cytokinemia was more compensated in group I patients compared with patients in groups II and III. A decrease in IFN-α and IFN-γ was detected in all patients with chronic EBV infection while studying the interferon status. A correlation was found between the level of viral replication and a decrease in the level of IFN-α and IFN-γ. The identified features of the cytokine status in patients with chronic EBV infection can be used to optimize therapy and help develop a differentiated approach to the immunocorrection of these patients, depending on the level of viral replication.