title: Increased levels of circulating interleukin-18 in patients with advanced tuberculosis.
abstract: Interleukin-18 (IL-18) has recently been identified as an interferon- gamma-inducing factor and it plays an important role in the Th1 response. We measured serum levels of IL-18 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in 43 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 25 healthy control subjects. Significantly increased levels of circulating IL-18 and IFN-gamma were found in pulmonary tuberculosis as compared with those in healthy control subjects. Circulating IL-18 and IFN-gamma correlated with the extent of disease in pulmonary tuberculosis. We found significantly increased levels of circulating IL-18 and IFN-gamma in the patients with high-grade fever. Circulating IL-18 significantly correlated with circulating IFN-gamma. IL-18 may play an important role in immune response to human infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shijubo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shigehara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurimoto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology; D012016:Reference Values; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D020382:Interleukin-18; D007371:Interferon-gamma