title: CXCR3 ligands as clinical markers for pulmonary tuberculosis.
abstract: METHODS
  A tertiary care academic medical centre.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical usefulness of CXC chemokine receptor 3 (CXCR3) ligands in active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with various pulmonary diseases and healthy controls were recruited into this cross-sectional study. Plasma levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and the CXCR3 ligands (CXCL9 [monokine induced by IFN-γ, MIG], CXCL10 [IFN-γ-inducible 10-kDa protein, IP-10] and CXCL11 [IFN-inducible T-cell α chemoattractant, I-TAC] were measured using enzyme immunoassays.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 846 subjects: 201 patients with active pulmonary TB, 389 with other pulmonary diseases, and 256 controls. CXCR3 ligand levels were higher in TB patients than in controls and all other disease groups, whereas the IFN-γ levels did not differ. The area under the curve (AUC) for differentiating active TB from all other groups was 0.797 for CXCL9, 0.726 for CXCL10, 0.846 for CXCL11 and 0.534 for IFN-γ. The AUC for differentiating active TB from controls was 0.926 for CXCL9, 0.818 for CXCL10, 0.865 for CXCL11 and 0.575 for IFN-γ. CXCR3 levels correlated with sputum acid-fast bacilli smear grades and the radiographic extent of pulmonary TB.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CXCR3 ligands may be useful surrogate markers for diagnosing active TB and for assessing TB patients clinically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sheen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D008024:Ligands; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C515187:CXCR3 protein, human; D008024:Ligands; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3; D007371:Interferon-gamma