Cytokines Interleukin 4 (IL-4) and Interleukin 10 (IL-10) Gene Polymorphisms as Potential Host Susceptibility Factors in Virus-Induced Encephalitis

Yu, Ying; Chen, Ying; Wang, Feng-Ling; Sun, Jing; Li, Hai-Jun; Liu, Jia-Ming

Between January 2012 and June 2013, 112 patients (63 males and 49 females) with a mean age of 39.89±15.98 years ranging from 14 to 78 years, participated in the study. All subjects had been previously diagnosed with virus-induced encephalitis and were evaluated during the study as a case group. The control group consisted of 109 healthy individuals. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) Patients previously diagnosed with symptoms such as fever of varying degrees, disorders of consciousness, seizure, meningeal irritation sign, pyramidal sign, and intracranial hypertension detected by computed tomography (CT) head scan, electroencephalogram (EEG), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which corresponded to the seventh edition of the diagnostic criteria regarding virus-induced encephalitis [32] ; (2) Positive results were detected using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of encephalitis virus nucleic acid in the stool of subjects as well as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) patients who had experienced mumps, meningo-encephalitis, epidemic encephalitis B, or herpes simplex encephalitis; and (2) Patients that exhibited abnormalities detected by brain CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)