It is assumed that soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I and II (sTNF-R I, II) play important roles in the regulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) activity.
We measured the levels of circulating sTNF-R in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (n=31) and the correlation between TNF-α and sTNF-R in serum level was investigeted. We also compared sTNF-R levels before and after the treatment in 7 cases.
Significant increase of circulating sTNF-R were found in patients with tuberculosis compared with the normal controls (n=28) (p<0.01). Moreover, significnt positive correlations were found between TNF-α and sTNF-RI and II (r=0.520, r=0.553) in serum comparing sTNF-R levels before and after the treatment for patients with tuberculosis, significant fall was found in sTNF-R I, but not in sTNF-R II.
As a result, it is suggested that sTNF-R regulates TNF-α activity in patients with tuberculosis, and that sTNF-R I levels could be used as one of the indices to evaluate the clinical activity of tuberculosis.
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