[Correlation between levels of selected cytokines in cervico-vaginal fluid of women with abnormal vaginal bacterial flora].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the rise of the levels of proinflammatory cytokines - IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6 and IL-8 in vagina of women with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and if there is any relationship between this levels. One hundred and twenty females between 22nd and 36th week of pregnancy were enrolled in the study. According to the bacterial flora of cervico-vaginal fluid evaluated by Gram stain, all women were divided into three groups. Group I (53 females; 44.2%)--normal bacterial flora, group II (35 females; 29.2%)--intermediate flora, and group with BV (32 females; 26.6%). The level of IL-1b in women with BV was over twelve times higher than in women from I group (131.35 and 10.6 pg/mL respectively). The next was the level of IL-1alpha--about seven times higher (128.45 vs 19.1 pg/mL) and the levels of IL-6 and IL-8, which were 1.7 times higher (16.2 vs 9.7 pg/mL and 656.7 vs 375.3 pg/mL respectively). Except for IL-6 these differences of levels were statistically significant (p<0.05). The levels of IL-1beta in group of women with BV correlated strongly with levels of IL-1alpha (r=0.72; p<0.0001) and weakly with levels of IL-6 (r=0.31; p=0.017). The correlation coefficient between levels of IL-6 and IL-8 rose gradually in II and BV group and reached levels r=0.575; p=0.0014 and r=0.67; p=0.0009 respectively. Our findings show that in vagina of women with BV the levels of proinflammatory cytokines rise, and that the rise of levels is in certain cases correlated.