The assessment of host and bacterial proteins in sputum from active pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The protein composition of sputum may reflect the immune status of the lung. This study aimed to evaluate the protein profiles in spontaneous sputum samples from patients with active pulmonary TB. Sputum samples were collected from patients with pulmonary TB and healthy controls. Western blotting was used to analyze the amount of interleukin 10 (IL-10), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), IL-25, IL-17, perforin-1, urease, albumin, transferrin, lactoferrin, adenosine deaminase (also known as adenosine aminohydrolase, or ADA), ADA-2, granzyme B, granulysin, and caspase-1 in sputum. Results of detection of IL-10, IFN-γ, perforin-1, urease, ADA2, and caspase-1, showed relatively high specificity in distinguishing patients with TB from healthy controls, although sensitivities varied from 13.3% to 66.1%. By defining a positive result as the detection of any two proteins in sputum samples, combined use of transferrin and urease as markers increased sensitivity to 73.2% and specificity to 71.1%. Furthermore, we observed that the concentration of transferrin was proportional to the number of acid-fast bacilli detected in sputum specimens. Detection of sputum transferrin and urease was highly associated with pulmonary TB infection. In addition, a high concentration of transferrin detected in sputum might correlate with active TB infection. This data on sputum proteins in patients with TB may aid in the development of biomarkers to assess the severity of pulmonary TB.

Interleukin 8 and Pentaxin (C-Reactive Protein) as Potential New Biomarkers of Bovine Tuberculosis

“…Jensen et al first identified an association between LTBI and elevated AGP levels (33). TF levels in serum and sputum specimens were significantly higher in active TB patients than in latent TB patients (34). It is difficult to explain the higher levels of SAA and AGP in uninfected cattle.…”

Hepatitis E Virus Papain-Like Cysteine Protease Inhibits Type I Interferon Induction by Down-Regulating Melanoma Differentiation-Associated Gene 5

“…Upon virus infection, host cells rapidly mount type I IFN responses. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) play an important role at the early stage of infection [3,13,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]: MDA5, RIG-I, and toll-like receptors (TLR). MDA5 and RIG-I are known to sense the RNA genome of the invading pathogens.…”

The use of Phyllanthus niruri L. as an immunomodulator for the treatment of infectious diseases in clinical settings

“…Active pulmonary TB patients particularly the anergic patients, demonstrated markedly elevated IL-10 level, both in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, suggesting that M. tuberculosis stimulates IL-10 production that in turn disrupts an effective immune response [48,56]. The higher the capacity of IL-10 production is, the greater the risk for developing the disease [57,58]. IL-10 was also found to downregulate M. tuberculosis-induced Th1 responses, thus inhibiting the synthesis of IFN-γ [56].…”