Interferon-γ and Interleukin-17 production from PPD-stimulated PBMCss of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate Interferon (IFN)-γ andInterleukin(IL)-17 profiles in patients with different clinical presentations of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and to compare them with those of tuberculin-negativeand tuberculin-reactive healthy controlsMETHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCss), isolated from patients(n=52) and controls (n=30), were stimulated ex vivo with purified proteinderivative (PPD) and IFN-γ and IL-17 levels in the supernatant were measured.RESULTS: At baseline, PBMCss from patients with TB released a significantly loweramount of IL-17 (p=0.043) than PBMCss from healthy controls, whereas IFN-γ levelswere similar in the two groups. After PPD stimulation, a significant rise inIL-17 levels was found only among healthy controls (p=0.02). This rise in IL-17levels was similar between tuberculin-reactive and tuberculin-negative subjects. After PPD stimulation, patients with infiltrative TB secreted higher levels ofIL-17 and IFN-γ than those affected with chronic, miliary and cavitary TB (p <0.01). IFN-γ production from patients with infiltrative TB was even higher thanfor healthy controls (p < 0.01). PBMCss from tuberculin-reactive patientsreleased higher levels of IFN-γ than tuberculin-negative subjects after PPDstimulation (p < 0.01).CONCLUSION: Ex vivo PPD stimulation of PBMCs from patients with pulmonary TB doesnot significantly stimulate IL-17 release; however, higher IL-17 and IFN-γ levelsare found in patients with infiltrative disease, in comparison with thoseaffected with miliary, cavitary and chronic TB.