The serum activities of 3 cytokines (TNF,IL-1 and IL-6) were observed in 23 patients admitted within 4 days of onset of acute pancreatitis (AP). The results showed that the serum level of 3 cytokines raised in all of the AP patients, significant difference between TNF and IL-1 was abserved at admission and IL-6 did after one week of admission, suggesting that proper cytokine criteria are useful in predicting severity of the disease but the relationship between cytokines and MOF had not established.