PMID- 18937548 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20090901 LR - 20081201 IS - 1557-7465 (Electronic) IS - 1079-9907 (Linking) VI - 28 IP - 12 DP - 2008 Dec TI - Elevated systemic interleukin-18 in multiple injured patients is not related to clinical outcome. PG - 741-7 LID - 10.1089/jir.2008.0029 [doi] AB - Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine with the ability to induce interferon-gamma production in T-helper cells type 1 and natural killer cells. To investigate the role of IL-18 after severe trauma we measured plasma levels of IL-18 in 229 multiple injured patients [mean age of 39 +/- 16 (range 11-81) years, injury severity score (ISS) of 31 +/- 10 (range 16-66) points; 55 women and 174 men] and correlated these with demographics, clinical course, and routine laboratory parameters. IL-18 plasma levels were significantly increased in polytraumatized patients compared to healthy donors (p < 0.001). Survivors presented significantly (p < 0.05) higher IL-18 plasma median values (n = 193, median 98 pg/mL) compared to nonsurvivors (n = 36, median 63 pg/mL). Patients >60 years old (n = 35) had significantly lower plasma levels of IL-18 (median 45 pg/mL) compared to younger ones (n = 194, median 92 pg/mL). In the subgroup of nonsurvivors (n = 12) elderly patients had the lowest plasma levels of IL-18 (median 45 pg/mL). Patients with an ISS >25 had significant higher IL-18 plasma levels compared to the group with an ISS