Correlation of serum levels of inflammatory cytokines with severe form of cholecystitis

Abstract

Introduction: Cholecystitis is an inflammatory response of the body triggered by a number of mutually supporting biological mechanisms, which by creating and releasing inflammatory mediators - cytokines activate the innate or acquired immune system, which leads to neutralization of the harmful stimulus and initiation of the process of repair and regeneration of damaged tissue or its continuation as a long-term chronic process with simultaneous tissue destruction and reparation. Material and methods: The study was conducted at the General City Hospital (GCH) "8th September" in Skopje and the Institute of Immunology and Human Genetics in Skopje, in the period of 2020-2022. Statistical analysis of the data was performed with the statistical package SPSS for Windows 26.0. Results: The study included 165 subjects with gallbladder inflammation divided into 3 groups: mild, moderate and severe inflammation grade. Patients with mild, moderate, and severe inflammatory processes differed significantly in IgG levels (p = 0.049), IgA (p = 0.021), and IgM (p = 0.016) and insignificantly in IgE1 levels (p = 0.16). Patients with a severe inflammatory process had a higher prevalence of IL-2R and IL-8 than patients with a mild grade (p = 0.035; p = 0.26, respectively). The intensity of inflammatory process had a nonsignificant effect on the levels of TNF-alpha (p = 0.078), and a significant effect on the levels of fibrinogen (p = 0.001), with significantly higher levels of fibrinogen in the group of patients with severe inflammatory process compared to the group with mild grade (p = 0.0009). Conclusion: The intensity of inflammatory process affects the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines with presence of strong correlation between the severe form of cholecystitis and elevated serum levels of certain inflammatory cytokines.