Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 161, Number 6, June 2000, 1786-1789

Increased Levels of Circulating Interleukin-18 in Patients with Advanced Tuberculosis

GEN YAMADA, NORIHARU SHIJUBO, KATSUNORI SHIGEHARA, HARUKI OKAMURA, MASASHI KURIMOTO, and SHOSAKU ABE

Third Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo; Hokkaido Branch of Japan Anti-tuberculosis Association, Laboratory of Host Defense, Institute for Advanced Medical Sciences, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya; and Fujisaki Institute, Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, Okayama, Japan

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) has recently been identified as an interferon- -inducing factor and it plays an important role in the Th1 response. We measured serum levels of IL-18 and interferon- (IFN-) in 43 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 25 healthy control subjects. Significantly increased levels of circulating IL-18 and IFN- were found in pulmonary tuberculosis as compared with those in healthy control subjects. Circulating IL-18 and IFN- correlated with the extent of disease in pulmonary tuberculosis. We found significantly increased levels of circulating IL-18 and IFN- in the patients with high-grade fever. Circulating IL-18 significantly correlated with circulating IFN-. IL-18 may play an important role in immune response to human infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

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