Relationship between whole-blood interferon-gamma production and extent of radiographic disease in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.
The aim of this study was to determine whether whole-blood interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production correlates with the radiographic extent of pulmonary tuberculosis before treatment. The subjects were 40 human immunodeficiency virus-negative patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 36 healthy volunteers. The concentrations of IFN-gamma in whole blood stimulated with Mycobactrium tuberculosis purified protein derivatives (tuberculous PPD) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA) were evaluated. PHA-stimulated IFN-gamma (PHA-IFN-gamma) was lower in the patients than in healthy volunteers (p < 0.05), and inversely correlated with the disease extent (p < 0.01). Tuberculous PPD-stimulated IFN-gamma as a percentage of PHA response (tuberculous PPD-IFN-gamma/PHA-IFN-gamma) was higher in the patients than in healthy volunteers (p < 0.05). However, tuberculous PPD-IFN-gamma/PHA-IFN-gamma did not correlate with the disease extent. Our results indicate that the tuberculous PPD-IFN-gamma/PHA-IFN-gamma may be useful for the diagnosis of tuberculosis but not for evaluating the disease severity, and suggest that PHA-IFN-gamma could be considered as a marker of disease severity.
Inokuchi
Naoko
N
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan.
Sugahara
Kazuyuki
K
Soda
Hiroshi
H
Usui
Tetsuya
T
Hirakata
Yoichi
Y
Fukushima
Kiyoyasu
K
Yamada
Yasuaki
Y
Kohno
Shigeru
S
Kamihira
Shimeru
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000097:blood; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*
D015415:Biomarkers; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D007371:Interferon-gamma