Department of Pathology, Gulab Devi Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science & Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 29;14(1):22590. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-71627-5.
In a prospective cohort study, we evaluated plasma PCT levels in 48 TB lymphadenitis (TBLN) and 41 TB pleuritis (TBPE) patients. Measurements of PCT were done in unstimulated plasma of microbiologically and clinically confirmed TBLN and TBPE patients registered for anti-TB treatment at a tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Plasma levels of PCT were found to be raised in 89% of the patients at baseline with a median of 1.5 ng/ml. Levels were higher (p = 0.001) in TBLN as compared to TBPE (2.69, 0.96 ng/ml). PCT levels were not related to the bacterial burden depicted by culture positivity in these patients. PCT showed a negative correlation with the severity of constitutional symptoms (rho = - 0.238, p = 0.034), and inflammatory biomarkers; ferritin (rho = - 0.43, p < 0.001), INF-γ (rho = - 0.314, p = 0.003), TNF-α (rho = - 0.220, p = 0.039), IL-6 (rho = - 0.224, p = 0.035), and several chemokines of CCL and CCXL group. Raised plasma levels of PCT did not decrease with anti-TB treatment, indicating it is not a good biomarker to monitor treatment response in TBLN and TBPE patients. More studies with a larger number of confirmed EPTB cases are needed to define the role of PCT and its interaction with other biomarkers in EPTB.
在一项前瞻性队列研究中，我们评估了 48 例结核性淋巴结炎（TBLN）和 41 例结核性胸膜炎（TBPE）患者的血浆 PCT 水平。在巴基斯坦拉合尔的一家三级护理医院，对经微生物学和临床证实的 TBLN 和 TBPE 患者进行抗结核治疗的登记中，检测了未刺激的血浆 PCT 水平。结果发现，89%的患者基线时 PCT 水平升高，中位数为 1.5ng/ml。TBLN 患者的水平高于 TBPE（2.69，0.96ng/ml；p=0.001）。PCT 水平与这些患者培养阳性所示的细菌负荷无关。PCT 与全身症状的严重程度呈负相关（rho=-0.238，p=0.034），与炎症生物标志物铁蛋白（rho=-0.43，p<0.001）、IFN-γ（rho=-0.314，p=0.003）、TNF-α（rho=-0.220，p=0.039）、IL-6（rho=-0.224，p=0.035）和 CCL 和 CCXL 组的几种趋化因子呈负相关。升高的血浆 PCT 水平在抗结核治疗中没有降低，表明它不是监测 TBLN 和 TBPE 患者治疗反应的良好生物标志物。需要更多的研究，包括更多的确诊 EPTB 病例，以确定 PCT 的作用及其与其他生物标志物在 EPTB 中的相互作用。
