A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of
Master’s in Life Sciences of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and
Technology
Human tuberculosis is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by mycobacterium
tuberculosis. Pulmonary tuberculosis is the result of the failure of host immune system to
control mycobacterium tuberculosis. The aim of the study was to analyze and associate
plasma biomarkers that can be used in monitoring treatment in active pulmonary tuberculosis
patients before and after the use of anti-TB therapy. Multiple cytokine responses in active
tuberculosis (TB) patients were investigated in this study following anti-TB drug therapy
after 2 months. Ninety-six participants with pulmonary TB were engaged in the study
between May 2018 and October 2018. Samples of blood were taken early before treatment at
0 and 2 months after using anti-TB therapy. The levels of interferon-gamma (IFN)-γ,
interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in whole blood plasma
collected from the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus were measured. Compared with baseline
levels, TNF-α, IL6 and IL10 were significantly lower following treatment whereas the IFN-γ
and IL-4 increased significantly after treatment. The responses of five cytokines varied
significantly after treatment (P < 0.0001) where IFN-γ was highest compared to other
cytokines with 123.6%, AUC=0.757and P < 0001, TNF-α AUC = 0.529 and P = 0.743, IL-4
AUC = 0.557 and P = 0.514, IL-6 AUC = 0.629 and P = 0.047, IL-10 AUC = 0.549 and P
=0.581. It was concluded that changes of cytokines that observed during the treatment of TB
patients play a very important role in monitoring pulmonary TB and can be suitable
biomarkers to assess the effectiveness of anti-TB therapy in patients with TB.