title: Clinical correlates of interferon gamma production in patients with tuberculosis.
abstract: To determine if the capacity to produce interferon (IFN) gamma is related to the clinical manifestations of tuberculosis, we correlated Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced IFN-gamma production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with clinical, radiographic, and laboratory variables for 63 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative patients and 43 HIV-positive patients with tuberculosis. For HIV-negative patients whose chest radiographs showed moderately advanced disease, the mean IFN-gamma concentration +/- SD was 1,639 +/- 388 pg/mL, whereas that for patients with far-advanced disease was 327 +/- 100 pg/mL (P = .0001). For HIV-infected patients who had only pleuropulmonary disease, the mean IFN-gamma concentration was 1,002 +/- 257 pg/mL, whereas that for patients with disease outside the lungs and pleura was 149 +/- 55 pg/mL (P = .0004). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the radiographic extent of disease and the site of disease were the only independent predictors of IFN-gamma production in HIV-negative and HIV-infected patients (P < or = .001). We conclude that reduced IFN-gamma production by PBMCs is a marker of severe tuberculosis in both HIV-negative and HIV-infected patients with tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles 90033, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sodhi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Barnes
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D014396:Tuberculosis, Pleural / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma