Inflammatory Cytokine Patterns in Serum and CSF of Patients With Bell's Palsy

Background: Bell’s palsy is an acute peripheral facial nerve palsy in which inflammation and viral reactivation have been implicated. Cytokines and chemokines in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) provide complementary windows into systemic and neuroinflammatory activity, but joint serum–CSF cytokine patterning in Bell’s palsy remains incompletely characterized.Objective: To assessing inflammatory cytokine patterns in serum and CSF among patients with Bell’s palsy compared with controls using clinical variables and laboratory panels.Methods: A case–control dataset (n=180; 120 Bell’s palsy, 60 controls) was used with demographics, House–Brackmann grade, time-from-onset, treatment variables, and paired serum/CSF cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-γ, MCP-1, CXCL10). Cytokine patterns were summarized using standardized median profiles by compartment and group. A multivariable recovery model in Bell’s palsy tested whether an inflammation pattern score (principal component) was associated with complete recovery at 3 months after adjustment for severity and treatment variables.Results: Across serum and CSF, Bell’s palsy cases demonstrated higher pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles than controls, with compartment-specific patterning. A composite inflammation pattern score was inversely associated with complete recovery in adjusted models within Bell’s palsy cases.Conclusions: This analysis demonstrates that Bell’s palsy cases demonstrated higher pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles.