Characterization of cytokine profile to distinguish latent tuberculosis from active tuberculosis and healthy controls

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease and its mortality rate ranks first. Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) means that a patient is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but has no relative clinical symptoms. It has been estimated that approximately 10% of patients with LTBI would develop into active tuberculosis. Therefore, it was urgent to search for more efficient biomarkers to discriminate LTBI from healthy population.

The Luminex assay was employed to detect the quantity of cytokines secreted by mononuclear cells from peripheral blood stimulated with the ESAT6 protein among TB, LTBI and healthy controls. The cytokine profile was analyzed by principal components analysis and the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

The principal components analysis indicated that LTBI and TB were clearly separated from healthy controls, and that LTBI was also successfully differentiated from healthy controls. The cytokine profiling method to distinguish LTBI from healthy controls has a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. Nine potential biomarkers, including IL-23, IL-21, HGF, Bngf, IL-27, IL-31, IL-1β, IL-22 and IL-18, were identified, and these cytokines were considered as a potential cytokine complex for more effectively discriminating LTBI from healthy controls.

IL-23, IL-21, HGF, Bngf, IL-27, IL-31, IL-1β, IL-22 and IL-18 were demonstrated to be the potential cytokine complex for the assessment between LTBI and healthy controls.