The identification of central nervous system inflammation etiology leads to adjusted therapy. We analyzed the potential inflammatory and neuro-axonal damage markers in children. Our target was to correlate the findings with a disease's course or a sequalae risk and assess their clinical usefulness. The study included 96 children with symptoms of central nervous system inflammation who underwent diagnostics. The research group involved 24 children with autoimmune disorders and 31 with neuroinfection. The control group included patients with both etiologies excluded. We analyzed the results of routine laboratory tests together with chosen serum (neopterin, interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6) and CSF (metalloproteinase [MMP]-9, S100B protein) markers. In the whole cohort, CSF MMP-9 correlated with CSF cytosis and serum IL-6 and CRP. In the undivided neuroinflammatory group, CSF S100B correlated with serum IL-6 and IgM concentrations. CSF cytosis was associated with CSF MMP-9 and serum neopterin levels. Among the infective patients, IL-6 was linked with increased CSF MMP-9. We conclude that astroglial protein S100B, neopterin, and cytokine concentrations may enable predicting long-term consequences, whereas CSF MMP-9 concentration may reflect the actual central nervous system injury regardless of etiology.

中枢神经系统炎症病因的鉴定导致调整治疗。我们分析了儿童潜在的炎症和神经轴突损伤标志物。我们的目标是将这些发现与疾病病程或后遗症风险相关联，并评估其临床实用性。该研究包括接受诊断的 96 名出现中枢神经系统炎症症状的儿童。该研究小组涉及 24 名患有自身免疫性疾病的儿童和 31 名患有神经感染的儿童。对照组包括排除两种病因的患者。我们分析了常规实验室测试的结果以及选定的血清（新蝶呤、白细胞介素 [IL]-1β、IL-6）和 CSF（金属蛋白酶 [MMP]-9、S100B 蛋白）标志物。在整个队列中，CSF MMP-9 与 CSF 细胞增多和血清 IL-6 和 CRP 相关。在未划分的神经炎症组中，CSF S100B 与血清 IL-6 和 IgM 浓度相关。脑脊液细胞增多症与脑脊液 MMP-9 和血清新蝶呤水平相关。在感染性患者中，IL-6 与 CSF MMP-9 增加有关。我们得出结论，星形胶质蛋白 S100B、新蝶呤和细胞因子浓度可以预测长期后果，而 CSF MMP-9 浓度可能反映实际的中枢神经系统损伤，无论病因如何。