[Interaction between interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor productions by peripheral blood monocytes and...

Malnutrition is frequently observed in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. We have already reported the nutritional disturbance in those patients by comprehensive nutritional assessment. But the mechanism of this nutritional disturbance remains unclear. We anticipated that cytokines contributed to the nutritional disturbance. To elucidate this mechanism we measured the productions of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) by peripheral blood monocytes, and correlated them with nutritional parameters in those patients. These cytokines had been reported to mediate metabolic alterations in inflammatory process. Subjects were 45 patients with bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis and their controls matched by age and sex. Adherent monocyte at 0.5 x 10(6)/ml were stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the culture supernatant was measured by ELISA for IL-1 and TNF. In order to assess nutritional status we measured serum albumin, transferrin, prealbumin, retinol binding protein, branched chain amino acid (BCAA)/aromatic amino acid (AAA) ratio as amino acid imbalance index, % ideal body weight (%IBW), % arm muscle circumference (% AMC) as muscle mass index, % triceps skin fold thickness (% TSF), as fat store index. The results were as follows: (1) Patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis were confirmed to be malnourished in visceral proteins, plasma amino acid, and anthropometric indices. (2) In patients with moderate or mild nutritional depletion the production of IL-1 and TNF was higher than that in healthy controls, and significantly correlated inversely with the nutritional parameters. (3) In patients with severe nutritional depletion the production of IL-1 and TNF was lower than that in healthy controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)