Study of natural killer cells [NKCs] in pulmonary tuberculosis

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at evaluation of natural killer [NK] cells in cases of pulmonary tuberculosis using flow cytometry. It comprised 50 subjects divided into two groups. The first group included 40 patients, they were subdivided according to response to antimycobacterial chemotherapy into four subgroups [recently diagnosed [fresh], sputum converters, sputum non-converters [after 8-10 weeks of treatment] and relapsed [or reactivation] subgroups]. Another group included 10 normal persons as a control. On the whole, it was found that the percentage of CD56 [natural killer cells] in relation to total lymphocytes was significantly decreased in pulmonary tuberculosis. This was encountered in all subgroups