Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May 31;24(1):379.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-04852-6.

Evaluation and clinical significance of serum neurospecific enolase in children with pneumonia: a case-control study

Tianhua Li  1 , Minglei Li  1 , Jie Feng  1 , Tingting Liu  2 , Liu Yang  1 , Lexiang Yu  3
Affiliations

Evaluation and clinical significance of serum neurospecific enolase in children with pneumonia: a case-control study

Tianhua Li et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Neurospecific Enolase (NSE), a multifunctional protein, is present in various tissues of the body and plays an important role in many disease processes, such as infection, inflammation, tumours, injury, and immunity. In recent years, the application of NSE in respiratory diseases has become increasingly widespread and a research hotspot.

Objective: This study aims to explore the relationship between NSE and childhood pneumonia, providing assistance for the diagnosis and assessment of pneumonia.

Methods: Using prospective research and case-control methods, We selected 129 children with pneumonia hospitalised in Weifang People's Hospital from September 2020 to April 2022 as the case group. Among them were 67 cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MP+), 62 cases of non-Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MP -), and 21 cases of severe pneumonia. At the same time, 136 children who underwent outpatient health examinations were selected as the control group. The levels of NSE, ESR, CRP in cases group and NSE in control group were measured separately.

Result: The NSE levels in the MP + group were 17.86 (14.29-22.54) ng/mL, while those in the MP- group were 17.89 (14.10-21.66) ng/mL, both of which were higher than the control group's NSE levels of 13.26(12.18,14.44) ng/mL (H = 46.92, P = 0.000). There was no statistically significant difference in NSE levels between the MP + and MP - groups (P > 0.05). The NSE level in the severe pneumonia group was 27.38 (13.95-34.06) ng/mL, higher than that in the mild pneumonia group, which was 17.68 (14.27-21.04) ng/mL, (P = 0.024). The AUC values for diagnosing pneumonia are NSE0.714, CRP0.539, and ESR0.535, with NSE having the highest diagnostic value.

Conclusion: Serum NSE can serve as an inflammatory indicator for paediatric pneumonia, which has important clinical guidance significance for the diagnosis, condition evaluation, and prognosis of paediatric pneumonia.

Keywords: Children; Clinical significance; Lung disease; Neurospecific enolase; Pneumonia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The predictive ROC curve of serum NSE, ESR, and CRP for pneumonia
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Moore BW, McGregor D. Chromatographic and electrophoretic fractionation of soluble proteins of brain and liver. J Biol Chem. 1965;240:1647–53. doi: 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)97483-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hannaert V, Brinkmann H, Nowitzki U, et al. Enolase from Trypanosoma Brucei, from the amitochondriate protist Mastigamoeba Balamuthi, and from the chloroplast and cytosol of Euglena gracilis: pieces in the evolutionary puzzle of the eukaryotic glycolytic pathway. Mol Biol Evol. 2000;17:989–1000. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026395. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Piast M, Kustrzeba-Wojcicka I, Matusiewicz M, et al. Molecular evolution of enolase. Acta Biochim Pol. 2005;52:507–13. doi: 10.18388/abp.2005_3466. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pearse AG, Takor T. Embryology of the diffuse neuroendocrine system and its relationship to the common peptides. Fed Proc. 1979;38(9):2288–2294. - PubMed
    1. Russell FA, King R, Smillie S-J, et al. Calcitonin gene-related peptide: physiology and pathophysiology. Physiol Rev. 2014;94(4):1099–142. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00034.2013. - DOI - PMC - PubMed