Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to investigate the cytokines interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17 in the peripheral blood of patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure combined with sepsis, patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, and patients with liver cirrhosis; to investigate the changes in the levels of inflammatory factors in cases of coagulation dysfunction in liver failure combined with sepsis; and to discover more typical inflammatory factors for further evaluation by functional experiments. METHODS: In the present study, 41 patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure and sepsis were enrolled as study subjects. These patients were compared with 20 patients with either acute-on-chronic liver failure and liver cirrhosis during the same period. The changes in IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17 were detected in each group by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and SPSS 17.0 software was adopted for data analysis. RESULTS: There were no significant changes in the levels of IL-4 in any of the groups. However, the levels of IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17 were significantly higher in the acute-on-chronic liver failure and sepsis group than in the acute-on-chronic liver failure and the liver cirrhosis groups. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that when liver failure is accompanied by sepsis, the serum levels of inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17 are significantly increased. This could be closely correlated with the occurrence and development of coagulation dysfunction and sepsis. These findings provide new ideas for delaying the deterioration of patients with liver failure in clinical practice.