[Immunity in patients with active tuberculous spondylitis].

Immunological parameters were studied in 45 patients with active tuberculous spondylitis, admitted for surgical treatment, who were divided into 2 groups in accordance with the prevalence of exudative-necrotic, or productive components of inflammation in the vertebral bodies and paravertebral tissues. The patients with a predominantly exudative-necrotic component of inflammation exhibited a severe clinical course with frequent neurological disorders, large abscesses in the paravertebral tissues, inflammatory changes in the leukogram, enhanced specific T-lymphocytic activity in the PPD blast-transformation reaction, significant increases in the levels of tuberculosis antibodies and IgE, IL-2 and it soluble IL-2 receptor RR-alpha, an excessively high increase in the functional activity of neutrophilic granulocytes, and lower with IgG2. The degree of immunological disorders corresponds to the severity of a course of tuberculous spondylitis.