Analysis of inflammatory biomarkers and lymphocytes during the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) could yield findings that influence the routine clinical practice and use of new anti-TB drugs. This study aimed to evaluate whether the selected biomarkers-soluble intercellular adhesion molecule type 1, soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), and C-reactive protein (CRP)-and T-cell subpopulations are useful for predicting culture conversion, treatment outcomes, and the extent of radiological lesions (calculated using X-ray score) in patients with drug-sensitive pulmonary TB. This study included 62 patients with drug-sensitive pulmonary TB. CRP and suPAR levels significantly decreased after 1 month of treatment. Before treatment initiation, CRP and suPAR levels were significantly higher in patients without culture conversion; however, none of the selected host biomarkers appeared to significantly influence the conversion status or treatment outcomes. Some lymphocyte subpopulations were correlated with X-ray scores before TB treatment initiation, but lung destruction, as determined using X-ray scores, showed the highest correlation with the baseline CRP value. We conclude that selected host biomarkers have a very limited role in predicting TB treatment outcomes and culture conversion and do not appear to be superior to CRP in monitoring TB treatment.
Keywords: Flow cytometry; Sputum culture conversion; Tuberculosis; sICAM-1; suPAR.
© 2021 The Author(s).