Expressions of IL-2,IL-4,IL-18,IFN-γand MMP-9 in untreated patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Objective To study the expression of IL-2,IL-4,IL-18,IFN-γand MMP-9 in untreated patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and their changes during treatment. Methods e used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELLSA) to detect the expressions of IL-2,IL-4,IL-18,IFN-γ and MMP-9 before and after treatment in 100 untreated cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and 90 healthy subjects. Results Of 100 cases with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis(treatment group),79 were cured after two months of treatment and the rate of sputum smear conversion was 79%. Compared with control group,cytokine levels were significantly higher in study group before treatment and the difference was statistically significant(P 0. 01). The expressions of IL-4,and IL-18 were significantly higher than those in control group after treatment and the difference was statistically significant( P 0. 05),while the expression of IL-2,IFN-γ and MMP-9 showed no statistically significant difference(P 0. 05). After treatment,cytokine levels decreased significantly and the difference was statistically significant(P 0. 05). The expressions of IL-2,IL-4,IL-18,IFN-γ and MMP-9 were significantly different between the patients of sputum negative conversion and unhealed patients(P 0. 05). Conclusions Dynamic detection of cytokine levels is helpful to the judgment of disease prognosis during treatment. In addition,the changing trends of cytokine levels can predict the efficacy of treatment.