[Quantitative and functional changes of plasma fibronectin in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis]

The plasma levels of immunoreactive fibronectin (IRF) and its functionally full-value fraction (FVF) were estimated from the capacity to bind to heparin to form a cold precipitate in 86 patients with various types of active pulmonary tuberculosis on admission, 1, 2-3, and 4-6 months after multimodality treatment. Active pulmonary tuberculosis was found to be accompanied by an acute phasic increase in IRF, which was masked by its increased uptake and regularly detected at early stages of chemotherapy. The levels of FVF sharply dropped. A follow-up of IRF and FVF levels during treatment permits the monitoring of the magnitude of biological effects.