Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha in Whole Blood with Response to Chemotherapy in Patients with Pulmonary Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis

levels were similar. During chemotherapy, the levels of all 4 cytokines increased. We evaluated these responses sepa-rately in patients that did and did not clear their sputum cul-ture at 2 and 6 months. At 2 months, decreases in both IFN- and IL-12 correlated strongly with a successful early response, while after 6 months of therapy, when half (7/14) of MDR-TB patients were still sputum culture positive, downregulation of TNF- was uniquely correlated with sputum conversion between the groups. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the possibility that the regulation of TNF- production in whole blood may be a more specific indicator of sputum conver