Correlation between serum tumor necrosis factor alpha levels and clinical severity of tuberculosis

This study verified the correlation between the serum levels of TNF alpha and different clinical forms of tuberculosis. We described a group of 24 patients presenting several clinical forms of tuberculosis and a control group of 13 healthy individuals. The levels of TNF alpha were measured by bioassay method. The levels of TNF-alpha had significant differences between the tuberculosis and control groups. The patients with abnormal chest X-Ray findings had higher TNF alpha levels (15328.48 ± 4602.19 pg/mL) when compared to patients with normal X-Rays (3353.18 ± 1495.29 pg/mL) (p<0.05). Patients that lost weight had higher TNF alpha levels (15468.54 ± 4580.54 pg/mL) than those that didn't loose weight (2904.98 ± 1367.89) (p<0.05). The levels of TNF alpha were higher in patients with a positive PPD skin test than in those with a negative PPD test (p