الفهرس 
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Abstract
Gastroenteritis in children is a common infectious disease that is associated with marked morbidity and mortality representing 20% of all pediatric deaths.
There are various cytokines that can be used as biomarkers of acute infections. A cascade of cytokines that involves interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor-α is activated in response to the infection.
Interleukin-6 is a multifunction cytokine produced by lymphoid and non-lymphoid cells and has a variety of functions including the regulation of immunity, the acute-phase response and hematopoiesis.
Interleukin-8 is responsible for chemotaxis of the inflammatory cells like neutrophils and lymphocytes to the site of inflammation.
Both cytokines have a vital role in immunity to the mucosal infections.
There are limited studies about the use of IL-6 and IL-8 as diagnostic biomarkers for acute gastroenteritis in children.
The present work aimed to detect the levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in the serum of children with acute gastroenteritis to assess their utilities as diagnostic biomarkers for acute gastroenteritis.
Our study was Cross-sectional study which was conducted at Pediatric department, Sohag University Hospital in 12 months (starting from the date of obtaining the approval from the Research Ethics Committee. The study included two groups of children (30 for each): children with acute gastroenteritis (group 1), and healthy control children (group 2).
Our most important results revealed that:
• There was statistically insignificant difference between the two studied groups as regard Gender, Age, Weight, Length and Mid arm circumference.
• We demonstrated that there was statistically significant difference between the two studied groups as regard WBCs, MCV and PLT.
• There was statistically significant difference between the two studied groups as regard ALT.
• There were 80.0% had positive CRP. The mean CRP was 33.0 ± 25.27 SD with range (6.0 – 96.0).
• There was statistically significant difference between the two studied groups as regard IL6 and IL8.
• There was no statistically significant relation between the incidence of bloody diarrhea and the levels of IL6, IL8 among patients with acute gastroenteritis There was no statistically significant relation between WBCs and CRP and the levels of IL6, IL8 among patients with acute gastroenteritis.
Based on our results we recommend for further studies on larger patients and longer period of follow up to emphasize our conclusion.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, both IL-6 and IL-8 were elevated in acute gastroenteritis. IL-6 and IL-8 may be useful markers for early detection gastroenteritis in children, especially when used in combination with CRP.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Further studies on large geographical scale and on larger sample size and longer period of follow up to emphasize our conclusion.
• Further studies with a large number from different centers will be necessary to confirm our findings.
• We recommend using IL-6 and IL-8 in combination with CRP for early detection gastroenteritis in children.