Cytokine profiles of seventeen cytokines, growth factors and chemokines in cord blood and its relation to perinatal clinical findings

Few papers have investigated the cytokine profiles of multiple cytokines in cord blood. We obtained cord blood samples from 224 infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit. Cytokine profiles of 17 cytokines were investigated using cytometric bead array technology. We found a wide variety of cytokines of various levels which ranged from 0.59 pg/ml (in Interleukin (IL)-4) to 222.0 pg/ml (in macrophage inflammatory protein-1β. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were highly correlated with each other and with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and IL-8. On the contrary, IL-5, IL-13, and IL-17 did not show any significant correlation with other cytokines. Several maternal factors were strongly related to several cytokines in cord blood. IL-6, IL-8 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 were closely related to certain neonatal diseases in preterm neonates. Some cytokines may be regulated independently of each other, while others appear to work as a network affecting physiological and pathological conditions in the fetus.