Hepatocyte growth factor may act as an early therapeutic predictor in pneumonia.

High serum levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) may reflect the regenerative effect and enhanced local and systemic production of this cytokine after organ injuries. The possibility of using serial serum HGF values in order to predict the results of therapy for pneumonia was investigated in this study. In a prospective multicenter study we investigated the serum levels of HGF and CRP before and within 48 h after treatment in 70 patients with pneumonia. Serum levels of HGF before treatment were significantly higher than the HGF levels of a normal population (p < 0.0001). Within 48 h serum HGF levels had decreased significantly in those patients who ultimately responded to the initial antibiotic therapy (p < 0.0001). Serum HGF levels at 48 h were unchanged or increased in cases in whom the initial therapy was ineffective and had to be changed. CRP and HGF levels were significantly correlated. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis it was found that individual changes in acute serum HGF levels and serum HGF levels obtained within 48 h could predict the results of therapy at least as significantly (p < 0.003) as CRP (p = 0.05), although CRP levels were known and used by the physician to decide whether or not to change the initial therapy. We conclude that serial control of serum HGF levels can be used as an early indicator to predict the results of therapy during treatment of pneumonia.