Assessment of serum immunoglobulin and complement components level in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective: To assess , the serum levels of immunoglobulin IgG, IgM, IgA and , complement C3 and C4 in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis at diagnosis and 3 months after therapy in comparison to age- matched healthy controls. Methods: This case-control study was conducted at the Advisory Clinic for Chest and Respiratory Diseases at AL-Fasalaa in Mosul City and the Department of Pharmacology –College of Medicine University of Mosul during the period from December 2007 to April 2008. Forty newly diagnosis patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were included in this study , with 50 apparently healthy age- matched subjects taken as a control . Initially from both the patients and the control group , blood sample were taken and assay of serum immunoglobulin levels ( IgG, IgM, IgA) and complements ( C3, C4) was done using single radial immunodiffusion method using commercial kits. After 3 months of therapy another blood sample was taken from the patients group and assay of the same parameters was done . Results :Initially , there was a highly significant increase in the serum levels of IgA, IgM, IgG and complement C3 in patients with active pulmonary tuberculoses with insignificant differences in the C4 levels in comparison to controls . After 3 months of therapy there was a significant reduction in the serum levels of IgM , C3 with insignificant reduction in IgG, IgA and C4 concentration in comparison to pre- therapy stage . In addition there was a significant differences in the serum levels of IgA, IgG, C3 in comparison to controls . In conclusion Tuberculosis as a disease and anti- tuberculous therapy do affect the immune system as reflected by the serum immunoglobulin IgA, IgM, IgG and complements (C3, C4) levels