Relationship between radiological classification and the serological and haematological features of untreated...

Immunological and metabolic responses were studied in 110 patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis and 32 healthy controls from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The severity of lung involvement was assessed radiologically, but this was not related to the current features of cell mediated immunity or to those of many aspects of the serological response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the patients with more extensive pulmonary tuberculosis showed higher titres of IgG2 antibody to whole killed M. tuberculosis and to the ML34 epitope shared by many species of mycobacteria. The patients with more extensive pulmonary tuberculosis showed a more marked metabolic response to infection as manifested by changes in serum levels of acute phase reactant proteins. Accordingly, the metabolic responses are considered to be more likely to prove of value in clinical monitoring of patients for severity of infection, or of reactivation of infection with M. tuberculosis, than immunological responses.