en Infectious diseases and public health Infectious diseases and public health Original article Original article <b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Introduction:</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""> Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease in humans and animals and is a worldwide public health problem. Changes in inflammatory cytokines levels might be deployed as markers for diagnosing infectious diseases from non-infectious medical conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between serum levels of interleukin-17 (IL-17) and transforming growth factor-beta (</span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">TGF-&beta;)</span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""> in pediatric brucellosis. <b>Methods: </b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">T</span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">he present case-control study included 40 brucellosis patients and 40 matched healthy controls. Serum levels of inflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA, and the independent student t-test was used to compare the levels in the brucellosis and healthy group. Serum cytokine levels before and after treatment were compared by the paired samples t-test. <b>Results:</b> The serum </span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">TGF-&beta;</span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""> level was significantly lower in the patients compared to the control group (90.21 &plusmn; 24.44 vs. 125.63 &plusmn; 23.28 pg/mL, <i>P</i><0.nv001), and the serum interleukin-17 level was significantly higher in the case group (83.74 &plusmn; 23.57 vs. 25.95 &plusmn; 17.80 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">pg</span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">/ml, <i>P</i><0.001). After treatment, serum IL-17 levels significantly decreased in the case group. <b>Conclusion</b>: In brucellosis patients, the serum IL-17 levels decreased significantly, whereas TGF-&beta; increased significantly in these patients. Hence, the serum levels of these inflammatory cytokines can be indicators for diagnosing pediatric brucellosis.</span></span></span> Brucellosis, Interleukin-17, Transforming growth factor-beta 199 203 http://jommid.pasteur.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-383-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Roozbeh Esalatmanesh esalatr@gmail.com 0000-0002-5839-1003 No Medical Student, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Mohammad Reza Sharif 0000-0002-2049-3370 No Infections Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Kamal Esalatmanesh 0000-0001-9675-5237 No Department of Rheumatology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Shirin Heidari 0000-0002-8404-4021 No Medical Student, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Zahra Soleimani soleimani.zahra@yahoo.com 0000-0003-0208-4562 Yes Infections Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran