Innate lymphoid cells exhibited IL-17-expressing phenotype in active tuberculosis disease

BACKGROUND: Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), as an important group of innate immunity, could respond rapidly to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. In this research, we studied the phenotypic changes of circulatory ILCs in active tuberculosis (TB) disease. METHODS: We recruited 40 patients with active Mtb infection (TB group) and 41 healthy subjects (NC group), and collected their clinical information and peripheral blood. Circulating ILCs, ILC subsets, dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, and the production of cytokines in ILCs were tested by flow cytometry (FCM). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect plasma IL-23. RESULTS: Compared with healthy control, total ILCs (0.73% vs. 0.42%, P = 0.0019), ILC1 (0.55% vs. 0.31%, P = 0.0024) and CD117(+) ILC2 (0.02% vs. 0.01%, P = 0.0267) were upregulated in TB group. The total IL-17(+) lymphocytes were elevated (3.83% vs. 1.76%, P = 0.0006) while the IL-22(+) lymphocytes remained unchanged. Within ILC subsets, ILC3, CD117(+) ILC2 and ILC1 in TB group all expressed increased IL-17 (15.15% vs. 4.55%, 19.01% vs. 4.57%, 8.79% vs. 3.87%, P < 0.0001) but similar IL-22 comparing with healthy control. TB group had more plasma IL-23 than NC group (7.551 vs. 5.564 pg/mL, P = 0.0557). Plasma IL-23 in TB group was positively correlated to IL-17(+) ILC3 (r = 0.4435, P = 0.0141), IL-17(+)CD117(+) ILC2 (r = 0.5385, P = 0.0021) and IL-17(+) ILC1(r = 0.3719, P = 0.0430). TB group also had elevated DCs (9.35% vs. 6.49%, P < 0.0001) while macrophages remained unchanged. Within TB group, higher proportion of IL-17(+) ILCs was related to severer inflammatory status and poorer clinical condition. CONCLUSIONS: In active TB disease, circulatory ILCs were upregulated and exhibited IL-17-expressing phenotype. This may expand the understanding of immune reaction to Mtb infection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12890-021-01678-1.