Circulating interleukin-18 and osteopontin in pulmonary tuberculosis patients and their correlation with disease activity

ABSTRACT

Abstract This study was done on 44 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. They were 33 [75%] males, and 11 [25%] females. Their age ranged from 17-53 years [mean +/- SD = 37.64 +/- 9.71 years]. They were classified according to chest x ray into 3 groups, group A 15 patients with far advanced lesion, group B 15 patients with moderately advanced lesion, and group C 14 patients with minimal lesion. The study also included 18 age and sex matched healthy individuals as a control. All are subjected to thorough history taking, full clinical examination, complete blood count [CBC], Erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], chest x ray, tuberculin test, and bacteriological examination of sputum for Mycobacterium tuberculosis including smear stained with Ziehl Neelsen [ZN] stain and culture on Lowenstein Jensen [LJ] medium. The circulating levels of IL-18 and osteopontin [OPN] were also measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] method. The results showed that the circulating levels of IL-18 and OPN were significantly higher in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis than in the control group [both P < 0.001], and higher in group B than in group C [P = < 0.001] indicating that the circulating levels of IL-18 and OPN correlated positively and significantly with disease activity. The circulating levels of IL-18 and OPN were also measured in 19 patients only, 6 months after treatment with antituberculous drugs. The results showed that the levels were significantly higher in patients before treatment than after treatment [P = < 0.001 in both] but the levels do not return to normal