ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1546730
Local and Systemic Cytokine Profiles in Children with Pneumonia-Associated Lung Consolidation
Provisionally accepted
Jilei Lin
Jiande ChenShuhua YuanMingyu TangGuijun YangHuishan ZhangWanlin LiHui Zhao
Jing ZhangLei Zhang*
Yong Yin*- Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai, China
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Objective: Lung consolidation (LC) in pediatric pneumonia could lead to complicated clinical outcomes, yet the underlying immunological mechanisms are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the roles of local and systemic cytokines in the development of pulmonary complications and disease progression in children with pneumonia-associated LC. Design: Conducted at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center, this study included 169 children admitted between June 2022 and October 2023.We analyzed levels of fifteen cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and blood. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis identified specific cytokines associated with pulmonary complications and hypoxemia.In children with LC, most local cytokines were found at higher levels than systemic cytokines, with no apparent correlation between the two. Notably, an elevated level of IL-8 (≥ 6615 pg/ml) in BALF was associated with an increased risk of hypoxemia. Additionally, elevated levels of IL-4 and INF-γ in BALF were closely associated with the development of multi-segmental LC. Furthermore, elevated levels of IL-2R in BALF were significantly associated with the occurrence of atelectasis, in contrast to their levels in peripheral blood.: IL-4, INF-γ, IL-2R, and IL-8 levels in BALF are closely associated with pulmonary complications and disease progression in children with LC. Exploring targeted immunomodulatory therapies in these children may mitigate lung injury caused by excessive local inflammatory responses.
Keywords: Children, cytokine, Pneumonia, Lung consolidation, bronchoalveolar lavage children, Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid
Received: 17 Dec 2024; Accepted: 15 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lin, Chen, Yuan, Tang, Yang, Zhang, Li, Zhao, Zhang, Zhang and Yin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lei Zhang, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai, China
Yong Yin, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai, China
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