Patterns of protein expression in infectious meningitis: A cerebrospinal fluid protein array analysis

Seventy-nine cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors were measured by protein array analysis in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with meningitis and controls. Several factors were found to be regulated, which have not been studied in the CNS before, e.g., macrophage inflammatory protein-1delta (CCL15) and neutrophil-activating peptide-2 (CXCL7). In pneumococcal meningitis, other new observations were an increase of macrophage migration inhibitory factor, monocyte chemoattractant protein-2 (CCL8), pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine (CCL18), and macrophage inflammatory protein-3alpha (CCL20), and a sustained upregulation of several growth factors. In viral meningitis, new findings were an elevation of CCL8, thrombopoietin, and vascular endothelial growth factor.