[Investigation of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor in patients with active tuberculosis]

It is assumed that soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I and II (sTNF-RI, II) play important roles in the regulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) activity. We measured the levels of circulating sTNF-R in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 31) and the correlation between TNF-alpha and sTNF-R in serum level was investigated. We also compared sTNF-R levels before and after the treatment in 7 cases. Significant increase of circulating sTNF-R were found in patients with tuberculosis compared with the normal controls (n = 28) (p < 0.01). Moreover, significant positive correlations were found between TNF-alpha and sTNF-R I and II (r = 0.520, r = 0.553) in serum comparing sTNF-R levels before and after the treatment for patients with tuberculosis, significant fall was found in sTNF-R I, but not in sTNF-R II. As a result, it is suggested that sTNF-R regulates TNF-alpha activity in patients with tuberculosis, and that sTNF-R I levels could be used as one of the indices to evaluate the clinical activity of tuberculosis.