Evaluation of clinical usefulness of serum neopterin determination in children with bacterial infections

Neopterin (NPT) (6-D-erythro-trihydroxypropyl pteridin) is one of the indicators of the immune system activity. Elevated neopterin concentration occurs in diseases mostly involving stimulation of cellular immunity. The determination of neopterin concentration, usually in blood serum and urine but also in many other bodily fluids, has already been applied in many areas of medicine, such as transfusiology, transplantology, oncology, infectious diseases and autoimmunological diseases. The aim of this work is to evaluate clinical usefulness of serum neopterin determination in children with urinary tract infections of confirmed bacterial etiology. The study involved 56 children with bacterial urinary tract infections - patients of the Clinic of Paediatrics, Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Paediatric Nutrition of Medical University of Gdańsk in the years 2012-2013. The control group included 105 healthy children. The values of NPT concentration in blood serum obtained in the group of children with urinary tract infections did not significantly differ from the values obtained in the control group. The determination of neopterin concentration in children with bacterial urinary tract infections is not a clinically useful parameter.