| Title | The assessment of host and bacterial proteins in sputum from active pulmonary tuberculosis |
|---|---|
| Author | Hsin-Chih Lai1, Yu-Tze Horng2, Pen-Fang Yeh3, Jann-Yuan Wang4, Chin-Chung Shu5, Jang-Jih Lu6, Jen-Jyh Lee7, and Po-Chi Soo2* |
| Address | 1Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Chang Gung Immunology Consortium, Chang Gung Memorial hospital, and Research Center for Industry of Human Ecology and Graduate Institute of Health Industry Technology, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C., 2Department of Laboratory Medicine and Biotechnology, Tzu Chi University, College of Medicine, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C., 3Department of Internal Medicine, Cheng Hsin Rehabilitation Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., 4Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., 5Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C, 6Graduate Institute of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang-Gung University and Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan, R.O.C., 7Department of Internal Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital and Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C. |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 54(11),761-767, 2016, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-016-6201-x |
| Key Words | Mycobacterium tuberculosis, tuberculosis, acidfast bacilli, sputum, transferrin, urease |
| Abstract | Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The protein composition of sputum may reflect the immune status of the lung. This study aimed to evaluate the protein profiles in spontaneous sputum samples from patients with active pulmonary TB. Sputum samples were collected from patients with pulmonary TB and healthy controls. Western blotting was used to analyze the amount of interleukin 10 (IL-10), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), IL-25, IL- 17, perforin-1, urease, albumin, transferrin, lactoferrin, adenosine deaminase (also known as adenosine aminohydrolase, or ADA), ADA-2, granzyme B, granulysin, and caspase- 1 in sputum. Results of detection of IL-10, IFN-γ, perforin- 1, urease, ADA2, and caspase-1, showed relatively high specificity in distinguishing patients with TB from healthy controls, although sensitivities varied from 13.3% to 66.1%. By defining a positive result as the detection of any two proteins in sputum samples, combined use of transferrin and urease as markers increased sensitivity to 73.2% and specificity to 71.1%. Furthermore, we observed that the concentration of transferrin was proportional to the number of acidfast bacilli detected in sputum specimens. Detection of sputum transferrin and urease was highly associated with pulmonary TB infection. In addition, a high concentration of transferrin detected in sputum might correlate with active TB infection. This data on sputum proteins in patients with TB may aid in the development of biomarkers to assess the severity of pulmonary TB. |