Serum IL-6 and IL-8 in Infants with Biliary Atresia in Comparison to Intrahepatic Cholestasis

Background: Biliary atresia (BA) is an idiopathic progressive inflammation and fibrosclerosis of the extra and intrahepatic bile ducts.

Aim: To measure the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in biliary atresia and correlate with clinical outcome.

Methods: Sixty children were included, 20 with BA (group 1), 20 with intrahepatic cholestasis (group 2) and 20 normal children as controls. Complete blood count (CBC), liver function tests, serum IL-6 and IL-8 were analyzed in all the three groups.

Results: Mean serum IL-6 and IL-8 levels were significantly higher in group 1 (394.7 +/- 40.2 and 111.2 +/- 9.7 pg/dl, respectively) than group 2 (175.5 +/- 33.1 and 53.5 +/- 8.2 pg/dl, respectively) (p=0.0 for both). Both IL-6 and IL-8 were significantly higher in both the disease groups compared to controls (30.4 +/- 8.8 and 13.7 +/- 4.1 pg/dl, respectively). IL-8 showed a significant positive correlation with lymphocytes and significant negative correlation with albumin in group 1. Higher IL-6 was found in patients with BA with severe fibrosis than in patients with mild fibrosis while higher IL-8 was found in children with persistent jaundice than those free from jaundice in group 1.

Conclusion: Serum IL-6 and IL8 are high in patients with BA indicating ongoing inflammation. They may serve to determine disease severity and may predict the progression to liver fibrosis in these cases.