Evaluation of serum IL-36γ as a potential discriminatory biomarker for Acinetobacter baumannii infection

Abstract

Interleukin-36γ (IL-36γ) is one of the IL-1 family cytokines and plays a role in innate immune and inflammatory responses against bacterial infection. Objective: to assess serum IL-36γ level and its potential discriminative value in patients with Acinetobacter baumannii infection. A case-control study in 82 patients with aster confirmed A. baumannii infection and 98 asterisk apparently healthy control subjects was conducted in Al-Hilla Teaching Hospital, the capital of Babylon Governorate, Iraq, during the period from April until to July 2026. Concentrations of serum IL-36γ were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Patients with A. baumannii infection had a higher mean serum IL-36γ concentration than healthy controls (42.8 ± 15.6 pg/mL vs 27.4 ± 9.8 pg/mL, p < 0·001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that IL-36γ has a high discriminatory performance, yielding an AUC of 0.86. For IL-36γ, the sensitivity and specificity at a cutoff value of 34.5 pg/mL were 82.9% and 79.6%, respectively. Our results suggest that serum IL-36γ is markedly higher in A. baumannii infected patients and might represent a discriminative biomarker between the infected patients and the healthy controls. Validation of the discriminatory utility of IL-36γ in larger populations and more clinically relevant comparison groups is needed.