Pulmonary tuberculosis: evaluation of interferon-gamma levels as an immunological healing marker based on the response to the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis whose interaction with the host may lead to a cell-mediated protective immune response. The presence of interferon-g (IFN-gamma) is related to this response. With the purpose of understanding the immunological mechanisms involved in this protection, the lymphoproliferative response, IFN-g and other cytokines like interleukin (IL-5, IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) were evaluated before and after the use of anti-TB drugs on 30 patients with active TB disease, 24 healthy household contacts of active TB patients, with positive purified protein derivative (PPD) skin tests (induration > 10 mm), and 34 asymptomatic individuals with negative PPD skin test results (induration -g, TNF-a, and IL-10. No significant levels of IL-5 were detected. After treatment with rifampicina, isoniazida, and pirazinamida, only the levels of IFN-g increased significantly (p -g production as a healing prognostic of patients treated.

Keywords

• tuberculosis
• interleukin-5
• interleukin-10
• tumor necrosis factor alpha
• interferon<FONT FACE=Symbol>-g</FONT>
• peripheral blood mononuclear cells