Objective To study the expression of IFN-γ by tuberculosis specific T cells(TB-IGRA)and Human Leukocyte Antigen-G(HLA-G) in the peripheral blood of tuberculosis patients and its diagnostic value in tuberculosis. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study. Study cases were all from Resparation Department of Shaoxing Municipal Hospital from January 2015 to December 2015. These patients were devided into tuberculosis group(TB) (34 cases), lung cancer group(LCa) (25cases) and non tuberculous pneumonia group(Non-TB pneumonia) (25cases) according to diagnosis, meanwhile, health group (35 cases) was set. IFN-γ and sHLA-G were detected by ELISA , and mHLA-G was detected by Flowcytometre. The receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of TB-IGRA, sHLA-G and mHLA-G. Results The expression of TB-IGRA, sHLA-G and mHLA-G were higher in the TB group (with the median of 182.5 ng/L, 99.44 U/ml and 13.63%) than in the LCa group (117.0 ng/L, 82.3 U/ml and 9.12%), Non-TB pneumonia group(80.84 ng/L, 34.2 U/ml and 10.92%) and health group(30.5 ng/L, 31.28 U/ml and 8.18%)(P<0.05). The AUC-ROC of TB-IGRA, sHLA-G and mHLA-G were 0.842(95% CI, 0.761-0.922), 0.746(95% CI, 0.652-0.840) and 0.706(95% CI, 0.605-0.806). The sensitivity for TB-IGRA, sHLA-G and mHLA-G was 88.24%, 70.59% and 67.65%, and the specificity was 60%, 72.94% and 70.59% at the cutoff value of 35 ng/L, 60 U/ml and 10% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of combination detection for TB-IGRA and HLA-G were 88.24% and 81.18%. Conclusions TB-IGRA, sHLA-G and mHLA-G were all increased in TB, while, the quantitative detection of TB-IGRA is more helpful for diagnosis. The combination detection of TB-IGRA, sHLA-G and mHLA-G can improve the sensitivity in the diagnosis of tuberculosis.(Chin J Lab Med, 2016, 39: 852-856) Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Interferon-gamma release tests; HLA-G antigens