The aim of this study was to analyze the concentration changes of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and the related inflammatory factors of pre-treatment and post-treatment in children with viral encephalitis, to examine the mechanism of NF-κB in the pathogenesis of child viral encephalitis. Twenty-two children with severe viral encephalitis, 13 children with mild viral encephalitis and 12 normal children, who were treated in our hospital, were randomly selected. Before and after treatment, the concentrations of inflammation-related factors in serum including interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were detected by ELISA and comparative analysis were performed. The expression of NF-κB in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) before and after treatment was detected by RT-PCR and western blotting, while the difference of NF-κB expressions between viral encephalitis children and normal children was analyzed. The concentrations of inflammation‑related factors in serum of children with viral encephalitis, including IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly higher than those of normal children (P<0.01), and after treatment, the concentrations of IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α were distinctly lower than those of pre‑treatment (P<0.01). The concentrations of NF-κB in peripheral blood and CSF of children with viral encephalitis in the mild group and severe group were evidently increased compared to those of pre-treatment, while the degree of increase in the severe group was higher than that in mild group, which was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). After treatment, the concentrations of serum NF-κB of children in the severe and mild groups were distinctly lower than those of pre‑treatment (P<0.01), with statistically significant difference. In conclusion, the NF-κB level in serum and CSF of children with viral encephalitis was positively related to the severity of the disease. The higher the concentration of pre-treatment was, the more serious the disease would be. Our results indicate that NF-κB plays an important role in the occurrence and development of viral encephalitis in children.

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