The serum concentration of vitamin B(12) as a biomarker of therapeutic response in tuberculosis patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection

BACKGROUND: Prior to clinical trials of new tuberculosis (TB) drugs or therapeutic vaccines, it is necessary to develop monitoring tools to predict treatment outcomes in TB patients. METHODS: Micronutrients concentration level was determined from a total of 262 study participants with five clinical groups: 57 TB patients coinfected with HIV (HIV+TB+), 87 active TB Patients (TB cases), 71 HIV infected without active and latent TB infection (HIV+TST-), 22 latent TB infection (TST+) and 25 healthy controls (TST-). Vitamin A concentration was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), whereas iron and vitamin B(12) concentrations were measured using Cobas(®) 6000 analyzer. RESULT: The serum concentration levels of iron, vitamin A and vitamin B(12) had a significant difference between active TB and latent (LTBI) or healthy controls. Six months after treatment, the serum concentration levels of vitamin A, vitamin B(12) and iron in tuberculosis became indistinguishable from the levels of LTBIs and healthy control individuals. The concentration levels of iron and vitamin B(12) in HIV+TB+patients at the end of TB treatment were normalized to the levels observed in healthy controls (TST–) regardless of HAART treatment. However, the concentration level of vitamin A in HIV+TB+patients HAART untreated at the end of TB treatment was not normalized to the levels observed in healthy controls (TST–) or HAART untreated HIV+TST–. CONCLUSION: Detecting serum concentration levels of vitamin B(12) and vitamin A might be used as a biomarker of the diagnostic method of active TB regardless of HIV-infected individuals. Moreover, detecting serum concentration of vitamin B(12) might also be used for TB treatment responses monitoring biomarker in TB-HIV-co-infected individuals regardless of HAART (in)eligibility and therapy.