Inflammation plays a major role in the pathogenesis of RDS and BPD in the immature lung. We investigated the possible role of IL-10 and IL-12 in the cord blood of preterm new borns with RDS or BPD.

Forty preterm new borns whose mothers received antenatal care at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital between January 2003 to June 2005, and agreed to testing their cord blood samples were enrolled. The gestational ages were below 34 weeks. Cord blood level of IL-10 and IL-12 were determined by ELISA. We separated the patients into 2 groups (RDS group and non-RDS group, BPD group and non-BPD group) and compared the cytokine levels and clinical records of the groups.

Cord blood IL-10 level showed a significant inverse correlation with gestational age and birth weight ( P =0.001, P =0.005). Preterm infants with RDS showed higher IL-10 level (1.0 vs 0.1 pg/mL ; P =0.001) in the cord blood than those without RDS. The differences remained statistically significant after correction for the effect of gestational age between both preterm groups. Despite similar cord blood IL-10 levels, preterm infants with BPD showed no significant difference with those without BPD.

Cord blood IL-10 levels are increased in preterm infants which may be due to the immuno-suppression occurring during pregnancy and to fetal immaturity because these levels are inversely correlated with the gestational age. So, Cord blood IL-10 level can be used as the predictor of RDS.