The Compensatory Anti-inflammatory Cytokine Interleukin 10 Response in Pediatric Sepsis-Induced Multiple Organ Failure

To determine the circulating anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 10 (IL-10) response during the development of sepsis-induced multiple organ failure in children. Prospective study. University pediatric ICU. Fifty-three consecutive children with sepsis and 15 critically ill children without sepsis. Plasma IL-10, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and nitrite+nitrate (stable end products of nitric oxide) levels and an organ failure index (OFI indicating the number of failing organ systems) were determined in 53 children on days 1 to 3 of sepsis and in control children on day 1. The effect of exogenous human IL-10 or neutralizing IL-10 antibody on supernatant IL-6 levels in ex vivo whole blood culture from 17 children on day 1 of sepsis. Children with three or more organ failures had higher plasma IL-10 levels than children with less than 3 organ failures (days 1 and 3; p