Soluble IL-2Rα correlates with imbalances of Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2 cells in patients with acute brucellosis

BACKGROUND: Previous studies showed that soluble IL-2Rα is an important marker of cellular immune activation and might be a marker of treatment efficacy for children with brucellosis. However, data regarding adult patients with brucellosis were unknown. The aim of study was to explore the potential role of serum sIL-2Rα evaluating treatment responses in adult patients with brucellosis, and T cell immune status was also examined. METHODS: During January 2016–April 2017, 30 patients with acute brucellosis from the Third People’s Hospital of Linfen in Shanxi Province and Beijing Di Tan Hospital, and 28 healthy controls were included in this study. Peripheral blood samples were collected before and after six weeks of antibiotic treatment. Serum sIL-2Rα levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the percentage of Th1, Th2, Tc1, Tc2, and Tregs was detected by flow cytometry after intracellular staining for cytokines (interferon-γ and interleukin-4) and Foxp3 in T lymphocytes from peripheral blood. The obtained data were analyzed with Wilcoxon ranked sum tests for paired values, Mann-Whitney U-tests for comparisons between patients and healthy controls, and Spearman rank tests for correlation analyses. RESULTS: Serum sIL-2Rα levels were significantly higher in patients than in controls (P = 0.001). A significant decline was observed in patients after the cessation of treatment (P < 0.001) and return to normal (P > 0.05). Th1, Tc1, Th2, and Tc2 cell frequencies were higher in patients than in healthy subjects (P < 0.05), while the Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2 ratios were significantly lower (P = 0.0305 and 0.0005, respectively) and returned to normal levels after treatment. In patients with acute brucellosis, serum sIL-2Rα levels were negatively correlated with the Th1/Th2 ratio (r = − 0.478, P = 0.028), Tc1/Tc2 ratio (r = − 0.677, P = 0.001), and Tc1 percentage (r = − 0.516, P = 0.017). Serum sIL-2Rα and Tc2 percentages were positively correlated (r = 0.442, P = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the correlations with Th1/Th2 and Tc1/Tc2 ratios, serum sIL-2Rα levels may reflect the immune response status. sIL-2Rα may be a marker for therapeutic efficacy in acute brucellosis.