Evaluation of TNF-α cytokine production in patients with tuberculosis compared to healthy people

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important causes of human mortality. Approximately one-third of the world’s population is infected with TB and 5–10% of them develop the active form of the disease. Cytokines play a major role in the host defense process against Mycobacterium infections. Among these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) has a prominent role in the defense of and pathological responses to tuberculosis. Materials and methods: A case-control study was carried out from May 2016 to June 2017. 45 patients with diagnosis of tuberculosis (smear and positive culture) were included as case group and 45 healthy subjects as control group. The serum levels of TNF-α were determined with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: The concentration of TNF-α in patients with TB was significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.05). However, the difference was only significant in the age groups 20–30 and 50–60 years; in the age groups 30–40, 40–50 and 50–70 years, the difference was not significant, although certain trends were apparent. Discussion and conclusion: Since the level of serum TNF-α is higher in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis than in individuals without it, the measurement of TNF-α levels can be useful as a probable marker for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.