Periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and cervical adenitis syndrome (PFAPA) is characterized by recurrent febrile episodes associated with one or more of the symptoms described by the acronym, and easily misdiagnosed as other infectious diseases, especially tonsillitis. We aimed to describe the clinical, laboratory parameters and cytokine profiles in patients with PFAPA and to explore indicators to distinguish children with PFAPA from bacterial infection. Patients with PFAPA and bacterial infection, who had cytokine panels performed by Flowcytomix technique during the febrile episodes (prior to any treatments), were retrospectively enrolled from January 2020 to June 2024 in Shenzhen Children's Hospital. Clinical data were collected from inpatient medical records. Serum levels of cytokines and other laboratory parameters were compared between patients with PFAPA and those with identified bacterial infection. Multivariate regression analysis and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed to construct a diagnostic model to assess the potential role of serum cytokines and laboratory parameters in the diagnosis of PFAPA. 67 patients with PFAPA and 160 patients with identified bacterial infection were included in this study. The level of serum IFN-γ, and the IFN-γ/IL-6 ratio in PFAPA patients were significantly higher than those in identified bacterial infection ( < 0.0001). The cutoff value of serum IFN-γ/IL-6 ratio for differentiating PFAPA from bacterial infection was > 0.43, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.79, with a sensitivity of 70.15% and a specificity of 71.88%. A diagnosis model combined IL-10, platelet and IFN-γ/IL-6 ratio was built, and the AUC was 0.95, with the sensitivity and specificity as 90.3% and 89.6%, respectively. The IFN-γ/IL-6 ratio during febrile episodes may be useful in the early diagnosis of PFAPA by differentiating this disease from bacterial infection. The combined model based on IFN-γ/IL-6, IL-10, and PLT optimizes the diagnosis efficiency.
Zhonghua er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of pediatrics •
To investigate the clinical, inflammatory and genetic characteristics of cases with periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and adenitis (PFAPA) syndrome. Clinical and inflammatory manifestations and gene sequencing of 11 cases with PFAPA were retrospectively analyzed. Inflammatory markers including white blood cell (WBC) , C reactive protein (CRP) , and serum amyloid A (SAA) were compared between febrile period and intermittent period. Fifteen normal children were taken as healthy controls. The levels of plasma inflammatory cytokines including interleukin(IL)1β, IL-6, IL-17, tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor(G-CSF) were compared between febrile period and intermittent period with paired-sample test, and compared between febrile cases and healthy controls with independent test. A total of 11 cases (7 females and 4 males) were included. The median onset age was 24 (3-60) months, and the median age of diagnosis was 69 (11-151) months. The median febrile duration was 4 (1-8) days, and the intermittent period lasted 1 to 8 weeks. All the cases had periodic fever and pharyngitis/tonsillitis, 7 of whom had combined lymphadenitis, and 5 of whom suffered from oral ulcers. Compared to intermittent-period-status,WBC ((14.7±4.1) ×10(9)/L (8.4±1.9) ×10(9)/L, 0.05), CRP((24.2±21.1) (3.3±2.1)mg/L, 0.05), SAA ((136.4±47.7) (7.1±1.1)mg/L, 0.05) were significantly elevated in febrile period. Compared to intermittent-period-status and healthy controls, plasma levels of IL-6 ((38±10) (8±4) and (8±5)ng/L, 6.514 and 6.830 respectively, 0.05), IFN-γ ((132±43) (49±21) and (53±21)ng/L, 4.069 and 4.276 respectively, 0.05), G-CSF ((403±12) (175±90) and (121±49)ng/L, 4.219 and 9.047 respectively, 0.05) were significantly higher in febrile period, while no differences were found in levels of IL-1β, IL-17 and TNF-α. Gene sequencing found MEFV gene heterozygous variation in 8 cases. PFAPA often manifests as periodic fever, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, aphthous stomatitis and adenitis. Gene sequencing analysis, detection of inflammation markers and cytokines could help with the diagnose of this disease.