Comparative Analysis of Cytokine Profiles in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood Serum in Patients with Acute and Subacute Spinal Cord Injury

Background Cytokines are actively involved in the regulation of the inflammatory and immune responses and play crucial importance for the outcome of spinal cord injury (SCI). Considering the importance of examining more objective and representative indicators of the patient’s condition is still required to reveal the fundamental patterns of abovementioned posttraumatic processes, including identification of changes in the expression of cytokines. Methods We performed a dynamic (3, 7 and 14 dpi) extended multiplex analysis of cytokine profiles in both CSF and blood serum of SCI patients with baseline American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grades of A. Results The data obtained showed a large elevation of IL-6 (>58 fold) in CSF and IFN-γ (>14 fold) in blood serum at 3 dpi with a downward trend as the post-traumatic period increases. The level of cytokine CCL26 was significantly elevated both CSF and blood serum at 3 days post-SCI while other cytokines did not show the same trend in the different biosamples. Conclusions The dynamic changes in cytokine levels observed in our study can explore the relationships with SCI region and injury severity, paving the way for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of SCI and potentially more targeted and personalized therapeutic interventions.