Use of flow cytometry to investigate the cytokine response pattern in infants with respiratory syncytial virus infection and bronchiolitis

Objective: To investigate the cytokine response pattern (IL-4/IFN-γ) in infants with RSV infections and bronchiolitis during the acute phase. Methods: Four-color flow cytometry was used to measure intracellular IL-4 and IFN-γ expressions in peripheral blood CD3+ and CD8+ lymphocytes from RSV-infected and bronchiolitis infants. Serum IL-4 and IFN-γ levels were also determined. Results: RSV-infected and bronchiolitis infants showed no statistical differences from not-RSV-infected or pneumonia infants and control in the frequency of IL-4 and IFN-γ expressions in CD3+CD8-lymphocytes, showed no obvious Th1/Th2 imbalance, while IFN-γ was expressed much more frequently in CD3+CD8+ lymphocytes. Systematically, RSV-infected and bronchiolitis infants showed much lower levels of serum IL-4 and IL-4/IFN-γ ratios and much higher serum IFN-γ levels than control. Howevr, there were no statistical differences in the above three indices between RSV-infected and not-RSV infected infants or between bronchiolitis and pneumonia infants, except that bronchiolitis infants had a higher level of serum IFN-γ than pneumonia infants statistically. Conclusions: There is not type-2 cytokine response predominance in the acute phase of RSV infection and bronchiolitis. IL-4 production is suppressed and IFN-γ production upregulated, the latter being most prominent inbronchiolitis infants.