Abstract: Objective: To determine the correlation between serumIL-26, high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1) and acute herpes zoster pain (AHP) or posterior neuralgia (PHN). Methods: The expression levels of IL-26 and HMGB1 were detected by ELISA in 57 patients with herpes zoster (40 cases of AHP, 17 cases of PHN) and 30 healthy controls. Results: The average levels of IL-26 in the AHP group and PHN group were 15.97±2.48 pg/mL and 13.90±3.86 pg/mL, which were higher than that in control group (8.00±0.38 pg/mL), with a significant difference (P<0.05). The average level of HMGB1 in PHN group was 7.91±9.29 ng/mL, which was higher than those in AHP group (3.80±6.30 ng/mL) and control group (4.03±5.45 ng/mL), with significant differences (P<0.05). In AHP group, there was a correlation between VAS score and the level of serum IL-26 (r=-0.435，P<0.05). In the PHN group, there was no correlation between VAS score and the level of serum IL-26 or HMGB1. Conclusion: IL-26 may be involved in the pathogenesis of AHP.

Key words: Herpes zoster, interleukin-26, high mobility group protein 1, nerve pain