Role of interferon-gamma and interleukin-17 in the immune response to pulmonary tuberculosis
Abstract
Interferon- gamma and interleukin-17 are important in immune response to pulmonary tuberculosis as they activate the macrophage host defense, promote cell-mediated immunity, and modulate the action of the pulmonary inflammatory processes which are essential in containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis .This study was designed to determine the co n tribution made by interferon-gamma and interleukin-17 to the immune response to pulmonary tuberculosis and measure their possible usefulness as immunological biomarkers with respect to disease activity and host defense. We conducted a case control study (April – December 2025) with 70 new patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 25 healthy age and sex controls to compare the levels of IFN-7 and IL-17. Clinical, radiological and microbiological parameters were used in the diagnosis and the severity of the disease was determined based on clinical parameters. ELISA was used to mea s ure serum IFN- gamma and IL-17. The normal hematological and inflammatory parameters including ESR and CRP were measured through the normal automated laboratory parameters following the application of stringent exclusion criteria to minimize the confounding factor. There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics between the patients and controls except that BMI was lower in the patients with tuberculosis. Sig nifi cantly high levels of IFN-gamma and IL- 17 were related to pulmonary tuberculosis, and they escalated with the severity of the disease. The two cytokines were also linked with the duration of the symptoms, ESR, and CRP but not with BMI. The diagnostic sens i tivity of IFN- 7 and IL-17 was found to be good using ROC analysis, and the combination of the markers had the highest sensitivity, specificity and general accuracy in detecting tuberculosis. High levels of IFN-17 in pulmonary tuberculosis indicate an increase in Th1 and Th17 immune stimulation induced by the continued stimulation of mycobacterial ant i gen and thereby leading to an increase in effective host defense as well as the severity of inflammation thereby justifying its utility as mechanistically appropriate diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.References
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