Objective: To investigate the role of serum soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (ATB) and explore its clinical significance.
Methods: The study included 78 cases of ATB patients and 40 cases of healthy volunteers from Dongguan Hospital for Chronic Diseases. Peripheral blood neutrophils and monocytes were counted by automated hematology analyzer. Serum sTREM-1 levels were detected by ELISA, and then the relevance with neutrophils and monocytes were analyzed by Pearson correlation test, respectively.
Results: The absolute numbers of neutrophils and monocytes, and the levels of serum sTREM-1 were higher in ATB patients than those in normal controls. In smear positive patients, the absolute numbers of neutrophils and monocytes, and the levels of serum sTREM-1 were higher than those in smear negative patients. The absolute numbers of neutrophils and monocytes, and the levels of serum sTREM-1 decreased in ATB patients after anti-TB drug treatments. Serum sTREM-1 level ≥ 528.14 pg/mL was very useful to diagnosis the smear positive ATB, and the accuracy was 100%. Pearson correlation test revealed that the absolute numbers of neutrophils and monocytes were both positively correlated to the levels of serum sTREM-1.
Conclusion: High serum levels of sTREM-1 may be of high value for early warning and prediction of poor prognosis in ATB patients.