Pediatric Infectious Disease Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Department of Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Clinical Tuberculosis and Epidemiology Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Eur Cytokine Netw. 2020 Dec 1;31(4):129-133. doi: 10.1684/ecn.2020.0457.
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading infectious causes of death worldwide and despite the progress recently made in TB control at a global level, the decline in its incidence is still slow. It is therefore crucial to evaluate the performance of new tools for monitoring of TB treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response to tuberculosis treatment using the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) kit. Blood samples of 100 patients with active TB were taken before treatment and after three months, if treatment was successful and sputum culture was negative. Whole blood was incubated in the presence or absence of the TB antigens, TB1 and TB2-specific antigens, and the production of IFN-γ was determined using the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) test. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software and statistical significance was assessed at a two-tailed P value of 0.05. The median values of IFN-γ released following stimulation with TB1 peptides decreased slightly after treatment (2.5 IU/mL (IQR: 0.9-5.3), compared to the baseline (3.4 IU/mL (IQR: 0.5-6.6)). Also, with respect to the TB1 antigen, 38 out of 45 patients were positive for the QFT test before treatment (84.4%) and 37 cases after treatment (82.2%). On the other hand, the median values of IFN-γ determined with the TB2 test declined marginally after treatment (2.7 IU/mL; IQR: 0.95-5.8), as compared to pretreatment (3.0 IU/mL; IQR: 0.7-8.9). Thirty-nine out of 45 patients (86.7%) before initiation of treatment and 37 cases following a 3-month treatment (82.2%) were had positive values. Moreover, the median values of IFN-γ of TB2 minus TB1 before and after treatment were 0.17 (IQR: 0-1.0) and 0.03 (IQR: 0.0.48), respectively; however, these differences were not significant (p value=0.29). Conclusion: The results of this study show no significant differences between the IFN-γ release in TB patients prior to and after treatment. However, more extensive studies are needed in different populations with higher sample sizes to validate these results.
结核病（TB）是全球主要的传染病死因之一。尽管在全球范围内最近在结核病控制方面取得了进展，但发病率的下降仍然缓慢。因此，评估新的结核病治疗监测工具的性能至关重要。本研究旨在使用 QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus（QFT-Plus）试剂盒评估结核病治疗的反应。在治疗前和治疗后三个月（如果治疗成功且痰培养为阴性），采集 100 例活动性结核病患者的血液样本。将全血在存在或不存在 TB1 和 TB2 特异性抗原的情况下孵育，并使用 QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus（QFT-Plus）测试确定 IFN-γ的产生。使用 SPSS 16 软件分析数据，并以双侧 P 值<0.05 评估统计学意义。用 TB1 肽刺激后 IFN-γ释放的中位数值在治疗后略有下降（2.5 IU/mL（IQR：0.9-5.3），而基线值为 3.4 IU/mL（IQR：0.5-6.6））。此外，关于 TB1 抗原，在治疗前 45 例患者中有 38 例（84.4%）QFT 试验阳性，治疗后 37 例（82.2%）阳性。另一方面，用 TB2 试验测定的 IFN-γ中位数值在治疗后略有下降（2.7 IU/mL；IQR：0.95-5.8），而治疗前为 3.0 IU/mL（IQR：0.7-8.9）。在开始治疗前，45 例患者中有 39 例（86.7%）和治疗后 3 个月有 37 例（82.2%）有阳性值。此外，治疗前后 TB2-TB1 的 IFN-γ中位数值分别为 0.17（IQR：0-1.0）和 0.03（IQR：0.0.48），但差异无统计学意义（p 值=0.29）。结论：本研究结果显示，TB 患者治疗前后 IFN-γ的释放无显著差异。然而，需要在不同人群中进行更大规模的研究，以验证这些结果。
