Levels of Interleukin-6 In Mononuclear Cell Lysate of Nigerian Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

This study reported the changes in lysate interleukin-6 (IL-6) from mononuclear cells in multi-drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients and in drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis (DS-TB) patients at diagnosis and during treatment compared with un-infected control. This is to find out if lysate IL-6 has any predictive value for inflammation at diagnosis or during treatment of tuberculosis. Mononuclear cell lysate of blood drawn on the day of diagnosis and on months 2, 4 and 6 of anti-tuberculosis treatment were used for the measurement of IL-6 by ELISA. IL-6 levels of mononuclear cell lysate were significantly reduced in DS-TB patients (p < 0.05) and MDR-TB patients at diagnosis (p < 0.05) compared with the control. IL-6 levels of mononuclear cell lysate were significantly raised in MDR-TB patients at 2 months and 4 months of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy compared with the level at diagnosis. Also, IL-6 levels were not significantly different in MDR-TB patients compared with DS-TB patients during treatment (p < 0.05). Our results, for the first time, demonstrated that levels of lysate IL-6 from mononuclear cell lysate were increased during treatment of MDR-TB patients but not DS-TB patients.Keywords: Tuberculosis; Cytokines; Biomarkers; Diagnosis; Chemotherapy