Abstract
Methods: We included in this study a subset of patients from the Permit (Permissive Underfeeding versus Target Enteral Feeding in Adult Critically Ill Patients) Trial which randomized critically ill patients to permissive underfeeding (40-60% of calculated caloric requirements) or standard feeding (70-100%) for up to 14 days while maintaining similar protein intake in both groups. Blood samples were collected on days 1,3, 5, 7 and 14 and were analyzed for acute pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1a, IL-1ß, TNFa, IL-6, IL-8, IL-15, IL-17, G-CSF, GM-CSF), anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1RA, IL-10), Th1 cytokines (IL-2, INF-g, IL-12), Th2 cytokines (IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-7, IL-13), chemokines (eotaxin, IP-10, MIP-1, MCP-1a, MCP-1ß), and growth factors (EGF, VEGF) using Millipore (Merck Mellipore, Germany).