Human-beta-defensin-1: prognostic marker of tuberculosis severity and treatment effectiveness in pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

The aim: Was to investigate human-beta-defensin-1 level in blood serum depending on tuberculosis severity and treatment effectiveness. Materials and methods: 100 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 20 healthy persons were included to the study. HBD-1 level was measured by ELISA in all the healthy persons and in all the patients at the treatment onset and at the end of initial phase of treatment. Additionally, the patients were examined with chest X-ray, sputum microscopy and culture, blood test and blood biochemistry. Results: HBD-1 level was higher in patients with tuberculosis (21.5 ± 2.9 μmol/L) compared with healthy individuals (8.9 ± 2.5 μmol/L). A positive correlation of middle strength was found between the size of lung lesion and the level of HBD-1 and between the level of HBD-1 and the massiveness of bacterial excretion. We found weakly negative correlations between the level of HBD-1 at the beginning of treatment and parameters of life quality rated on sf-36 scale. Patients with initially high level of HBD-1 had preservation of bacterial excretion, as well as signs of inflammatory activity. In patients with an effective intensive phase of treatment, the initial level of HBD-1. Conclusions: The larger pulmonary tuberculosis lesion, as well as the more pronounced clinical manifestations lead to the higher level of HBD-1. The possibility of using humanbeta-defensin-1 as a prognostic marker of treatment effectiveness is confirmed by the fact that human-beta-defensin-1 level prevails at the beginning of treatment in patients with subsequently non-effective intensive phase of treatment.