Abstract
The main factors of pathogenesis in the pulmonary tuberculosis are not only the bacterial virulence and sensitivity of the host immune system to the pathogen, but also the degree of destruction of the lung tissue. Such destruction processes lead to the development of caverns, in most cases requiring surgical interventions besides the drug therapy. Identification of special biochemical markers allowing to assess the necessity of surgery or therapy prolongation remains a challenge. We consider promising markers—metalloproteinases—analyzing the data obtained from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis infected by different strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We argue that the presence of drug-resistant strains in lungs leading to complicated clinical prognosis could be justified not only by the difference in medians of biomarkers concentration (as determined by the Mann–Whitney test for small samples), but also by the qualitative difference in their probability distributions (as detected by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test). Our results and the provided raw data could be used for further development of precise biochemical data-based diagnostic and prognostic tools for pulmonary tuberculosis.
Highlights
Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) has a long history as a major disease in humans and animals
We have indicated the large number of outliers for MMP-8 level in fibro-cavernous TB as well as for MMP-1 concentration changes for both TB clinical forms—infiltrative TB (ITB) and fibro-cavernous TB (FCTB) among drug resistant strains
We present clinical data on concentrations of metalloproteinases and their inhibitor, which could be useful to reveal biomarkers for the severity of an inflammation process in the pulmonary tuberculosis
Summary
Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) has a long history as a major disease in humans and animals. The "quest for biomarkers" is an established approach in biomedicine especially for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases [5,6] It is aimed at finding specific molecules whose concentration or activity can either define the pathological process localization or predict the therapy success, and the pathology evolution. The drug resistance (MDR or XDR) of M. tuberculosis strains can contribute to the drastic development of the tissue destruction and high levels of all biochemical markers (cytokines, enzymes and metabolites of the inflammation process). In this contribution, we present biochemical and bacteriological data obtained from patients examined in the Saint Petersburg State Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology before a full course of treatment was performed. Data processing introduced allows for determining which metalloproteinases could serve as markers for the severity of the inflammatory process in pulmonary tuberculosis
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call